Skipton Properties has been fined £20,000 for polluting a Haworth beck.

The company pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter Bridgehouse Beck on August 12, 1999.

But after the hearing, managing director Brian Verity hit out at the sentence and the legal mechanism which had "forced" the firm to admit responsibility.

He told us: "We as a company did not pollute the beck but we had no option but to plead guilty.

"We were caught up in a legal technicality and should not even have been at crown court.

"The people who did the damage were the demolition contractors. I am very angry and disappointed at the outcome."

The court was told that the Environment Agency had received several calls on the afternoon of August 12, 1999 saying that the River Worth in Haworth was covered in thick, white foam.

Officers traced the source back to a small culvert which discharged into Bridgehouse Beck, a tributary of the River Worth.

They also visited Lees Mill, Lees Lane, Haworth, a site -- occupied by Skipton Properties -- which was under demolition.

The firm carrying out the work on behalf of Skipton Properties had removed three tanks from their original position. The tanks contained a detergent called Sunaptol - used by the previous site occupiers - some of which had leaked.

A biological survey of the beck soon after the spill showed that the invertebrate and small fish populations in the beck had been seriously affected by the spill.

After the hearing environmental protection officer Andy Mollitt said he hoped the sentence would send out a warning to people involved in similar work.

"It is vitally important that companies seriously consider the environmental impact of all the work they do as the consequences of events such as this can be extremely serious," he said.

Skipton Properties was also ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.