FISHING illegally, cost five men £590 after being prosecuted by the Environment Agency.

Dartford Magistrates' Court last week found three south Londoners and two north Kent men guilty of fishing without a licence.

Colin Tillet, 38, of Frobisher Road, Erith, Kevin Palmer, 49, of Green Street, Dartford, Stuart Topp, 36, of Woolwich Common and William Hill, of Armitage Road, Greenwich, were fined £35 with £80 costs after being caught at Darenth Complex in April. Keith Tidman, 49, of Kidd Place, Charlton, was fined £50 with £80 costs for fishing illegally at Brooklands Lake in Dartford.

Environment Agency fisheries officer Tim Harrison said: “They could have fished legally for more than five years at the current licence rates.”