A water company repeatedly dumped millions of litres of raw sewage illegally into one of England’s most famous lakes over a three-year period, the BBC can reveal.

More than 140 million litres of waste were pumped into Windermere between 2021 and 2023 at times when it was not permitted, our analysis shows, and United Utilities failed to report most of it.

It means the company’s illegal dumping of sewage into the lake went on for far longer, and was far more extensive, than was previously known.