A UK-based businessman has launched a £1 million-plus legal battle against Britain's largest water company, claiming a devastating moorland wildfire destroyed prized grouse breeding grounds, killed wildlife and wiped out years of conservation work on his Lancashire estate.

David Livesey claims United Utilities could have stopped the blaze from spreading to his property, but didn’t

David Livesey, the former chief executive of £1billion-turnover estate agency giant Connells Group, alleges United Utilities failed to stop a blaze that spread onto his land.