Watchdog must do more to protect boy, 5, from landfill fumes, court rules

Doctors say Mathew Richards' life expectancy has been shortened due to exposure to hydrogen sulphide fumes

The high court has ruled the Environment Agency must do more to protect a five-year-old boy from landfill fumes that doctors say are shortening his life expectancy.

In a landmark judgment on Thursday, a high court judge said he was not satisfied that the EA was complying with its legal duty to protect the life of Mathew Richards, whose respiratory health problems are being worsened by fumes from a landfill site near his home in Silverdale, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.