Ex-Southern Water boss among four charged over alleged plan to manipulate water quality tests

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Ex-Southern Water boss charged over alleged plan to manipulate water testsImage caption, Matthew Wright is accused alongside three others of conspiring to defraudPublished22 July 2026, 13:46 BSTUpdated 2 minutes agoThe former chief executive of Southern Water has been charged with conspiracy to defraud authorities over allegations he was involved in a plan to manipulate water quality tests to avoid millions of pounds in penalties. Matthew Wright is accused alongside three others of conspiring to defraud the Environment Agency (EA) and water regulator Ofwat. The EA previously asked a judge to issue a summons against Wright, charging him with the offence, along with Philip Barker, Clive Massey and Mark Gregory.

The summons was issued last year but Wright launched a legal challenge which was dismissed by two senior judges on Wednesday. Wright's lawyers told the High Court in June that the EA did not have the power to issue the summons and it should be thrown out. But the judges dismissed his claim and ruled restrictions previously preventing reporting of the legal challenge should be lifted.

The Details

Separate court listings showed the case against 60-year-old Wright, of Haslemere, Surrey, Barker, 57, of West Chiltington, West Sussex, 64-year-old Massey, of Brandhill, Shropshire, and 63-year-old Gregory, of Southampton, were scheduled to be heard at Medway Magistrates' Court on 14 July. The four are accused of conspiring between 2012 and 2017 to "defraud persons performing public duties in respect of environmental and financial regulation" of Southern Water, including the EA and Ofwat, by "the implementation of artificial no-flow events at wastewater treatment works". The court listings show that Southern Water has separately been charged with dozens of offences of failing to comply with or contravening an environmental permit condition between 2013 and 2017 at multiple wastewater treatment works.

Image source, PAImage caption, The former employees are accused of conspiring to defraud the Environment Agency and OfwatWastewater treatment works can only be run with an environmental permit issued by the EA. Treated effluent discharge from the works is tested under an "operator self-monitoring" (OSM) scheme, introduced in 2009, with discharges tested annually in unannounced visits. The tests are carried out by sampling teams, which operate separately from teams that run the works.

The results of the tests are shared with the EA and Ofwat, and can lead to penalties if the works do not comply with the terms of their permits. If the discharge flow at the time of the test is insufficient to take a sample, it is not regarded as a fail, and no samples are taken for the rest of the testing period. Rules around OSM have been tightened in the past year, including that samples must be rescheduled in the event that the flow is insufficient, with the current Labour government pledging to end the practice.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.