A waste crime lord has been sentenced to a further three years in prison, after failing to pay back the proceeds of his illegal business.
Hugh O'Donnell is still in prison serving four and a half years for waste crimes and money laundering, but has now been jailed for an additional 1036 days. He had failed to pay the full amount of a £917,000 confiscation order - money he was ordered to repay when he was convicted back in 2011.
Mr O'Donnell's illegal waste business netted millions of pounds in profit by taking skip loads of construction and demolition waste to a site in Aldermaston, Berks, to be dumped in an illegal landfill. He was first jailed in 2009 for possession of an illegal firearm, uncovered during an Environment Agency investigation, and then sent back to prison the day after his release in 2011 for money laundering and waste offences. On 3 May 2012, he was ordered to pay £917,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, but still owes a total of £578,845.71, which he has refused to pay.
When he completes his third sentence, Mr O'Donnell will have served longer in prison than any other criminal for waste-related crimes.
Angus Innes, Prosecution Team Leader for the Environment Agency, said, "The Agency wants to make sure that serious waste crime doesn't pay, we don't just catch criminals - we want to confiscate the assets they’ve gained from crime. This investigation has been one of the biggest and most complex ever undertaken by the Agency and our partner agencies, in particular the London Regional Asset Recovery Team, to proactively target an organised criminal gang running an illegal waste site."
"This sentence sends out a message that failure to pay proceeds of waste crime is dealt with by the courts seriously and you can and will be sent to jail until the monies are paid in full."
