Weymouth fishing lake not poisoned, investigators say

Investigators have found no pollutants at an angling lake where the owner said thousands of fish had been deliberately poisoned.

Police were called to a report of contamination of the water at Harbour Bridge Lakes in Chickerell, near Weymouth, Dorset, on Good Friday.

The Environment Agency said no pollutants had been found in water samples.

It said algae growth was the most likely cause.

Lakes owner Jim Roper previously said 4,000 fish including carp had been killed in the incident, which he blamed on a deliberate act of sabotage.

He said a Muscovy duck had also died after eating fish and a large number of black-headed gulls had disappeared after picking up dead fish floating on the water.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We continue to investigate what caused a significant fish kill in Chickerell.

"We await the final results of testing. But early indications are that the most probable cause of this incident was algae growth, which would have affected the amount of dissolved oxygen present.

"Water quality sampling has not found any evidence of pollutants likely to have contributed to the fish kill."