Thames Water has been fined a record £20.3 million for polluting the River Thames with 1.4 billion litres of raw sewage.

The company allowed huge amounts of untreated effluent to enter the waterway in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 2013 and 2014, leaving people and animals ill, and killing thousands of fish.

Judge Francis Sheridan handed down a fine of £20,361,140 - the largest penalty for a water utility for an environmental disaster - at a sentencing hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court on Wednesday.

Handing down the fine, which is ten times higher than the previous record penalty paid by Southern Water, Judge Sheridan said: "This is a shocking and disgraceful state of affairs."

He added: "It should not be cheaper to offend than to take appropriate precautions."

Thames Water has 21 days to pay.