Study links crab deaths and dog illness to dredging for Teesside freeport

Defra report blamed algal blooms but independent research points to chemical released from sediments

An independent study has linked the deaths of thousands of crabs and lobsters and a mystery dog illness to dredging for the government's flagship freeport on Teesside - a key to the Conservative's post-Brexit, levelling-up" agenda.

The report has led local fishers to reject a government theory that an algal bloom" is responsible for the huge piles of dead crustaceans that began washing up on beaches along England's north-east coast in October.