Intruders are being blamed for the “devastation” caused after oil poured from a disused paper mill and into the Great River Stour. Thieves are reported to have broken into the former works in Chartham, near Canterbury, in the early hours of Friday, February 16, stealing copper from two transformers. But site managers later discovered that a bung had been removed from a tank which allowed the oil to escape. Specialist contractors have been brought in by the mill owners to clean up the river, with the operation ongoing and being overseen and investigated by the Environment Agency (EA). The pollu…