Campaigners try to arrest water bosses over 'public nuisance'

Environmental activists have attempted citizen's arrests of the chief executive and chief financial officer of Thames Water on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.

- Damien Gayle

The activists accuse Chris Weston and Alastair Cochran of five to seven counts of the offence, which is regularly used against protesters, including illegal discharge of sewage, mismanagement of customer funds and operating unsafe infrastructure.

They said they had worked with lawyers to draw up a draft indictment, which they intend to submit to prosecutors.

Their action came as the Guardian revealed Thames Water increased the amount of raw sewage it was discharging into England's rivers by a record 50%, and in the week the company won approval from the court of appeal for a £3bn emergency debt bailout to avoid financial collapse.