Thousands of fish have died after raw sewage spilled into a country stream - three years after it was restocked.

All life along a three-mile stretch of Howl Beck at Guisborough, Teesside, was wiped out after a Northumbrian Water sewer tank overflowed.

More than 1,000 brown trout died, along with hundreds of eels, stone loach, bullhead, minnow and stickleback.

Davey Gray, 42, who owns Tocketts Bridge Farm, in Fishpond Road, said he was devastated when he discovered dead fish floating in the stream.

The untreated liquid sewage discharged into the watercourse for about 14 hours on Wednesday.

Darren Starkey, of the Environment Agency, said: "The situation could have been avoided and we will be exploring all possible options in the wake of this incident."

The situation has been compounded by the fact Howl Beck was re-stocked as recently as September 2000 following another serious pollution incident, where a farmer discharged pig slurry into the watercourse.

Mr Starkey said: "Now all that work has gone to waste and we're back at square one.

A spokeswoman for Northumbrian Water said: "We regret what happened. It was unavoidable because a seal burst on a sewer. We are going to work with the Environment Agency to fund a restocking programme of fish."