A group of West Cornwall hauliers and the director of a skip hire company have been ordered to pay nearly £100,000 in fines and costs for illegally tipping thousands of tonnes of waste at a farm near Helston.
According to the Environment Agency, about 9,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste were dumped at Trenoweth Farm in Gweek. The offenders were fined at Truro Crown Court, told to pay back costs and ordered to return profits they had made from their criminal activities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
The Agency described how Michael Leah was the director of a haulage and skip hire company at the time of the offences and operated a licensed waste transfer station at Ludgvan near Penzance. He received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay £50,000, plus £4,000 in costs. Their investigation revealed that during 2007 and 2008, Leah had illegally dumped waste, including asbestos, at three separate sites including two farms and a residential property at St Ives. His site manager, Mark Outram, was ordered to carry out 250 hours unpaid community work and pay £3,000 costs.
Five companies in total were involved in the offences at Trenoweth Farm, all of which had earlier pleaded guilty to illegally depositing and disposing of controlled waste:
The Agency commented, "This case demonstrates how important it is for those who handle waste to make full and adequate checks in respect of where waste is deposited. Simply taking the word of a so called site agent or landowner is unacceptable. The range of sentences shows the courts take the illegal disposal of waste very seriously. The Agency will use the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to ensure any profits obtained through waste crime are confiscated, rendering illegal activities pointless."
