get-out clause?

For those following the latest prosecution of South West Water, one question keeps coming up: what is the maximum penalty available to the courts?

The company has pleaded guilty to 18 pollution offences across Devon and Cornwall between 2015 and 2021... a pattern of illegal sewage discharges into rivers, streams and coastal waters.

At one site near Bodmin, there were hundreds of spills into the River Camel, a protected habitat. At Harlyn, sewage was discharged again and again onto a popular beach. Near Plymouth, raw sewage was released into Hooe Lake for an extended period.

This isn’t an isolated failure. It’s repeated, corporate vandalism.

The company was already fined £2.15 million in 2023 for separate offences.
Under environmental law, crimes like these can carry unlimited fines, and even prison sentences for individuals.

But here’s the reality.

This case is against a company. And companies don’t go to prison.
So the outcome is almost always the same: a fine.
Which raises a serious question.

If these offences are serious enough to carry prison sentences, why does accountability stop at the company level?

Why do those in charge almost never face consequences?

Until that changes, fines risk being seen as just another cost of doing business — while rivers, beaches and marine life continue to pay the price.
This isn’t just pollution. It’s a failure of accountability.