DOZENS of fish have been killed again in the River Crouch following a second leak in under a year.

Members of the River Crouch Conservation Trust made the gruesome find.

The group was told a leak had been flowing into the river off Saxon Close, Wickford, and carried out an inspection of the stream.

Members was horrified to find dead roach, chub, perch, eels and a flounder.

They allege the pollution was coming from a pipe near the river, off Saxon Close.

The Environment Agency is investigating what the leak is and where it came from.

The leak comes just weeks before Anglian Water is due to be sentenced for allowing raw sewage to seep from drains into the river last August, killing about 1,000 fish.

Peter Steward, co-founder of the conservation trust, said: “It’s just devastating. I can’t believe it has happened again.”

Anglian Water workers at the scene believed the leak may have been due to sewer blockages, caused by flushed nappies and fat wrongly dumped down the sink.

Roy Hart, another founder member of the trust, said: “The river was totally polluted.

“We’re going to have to put up signs warning people. It is an absolute shambles.”

Mr Hart said there was a complete lack of policing of streams throughout the country, to make sure problems were not occuring.

Rita Penman, a spokeswoman for the Environment Agency, said: “We are aware of the situation it and have been out to the scene.

“It seems there may have been a couple of blockages which caused the problem, but we are still investigating it. But the water quality has been compromised and we have found some dead fish.”