A father and son from County Armagh were fined a total of £18,500 for illegal waste offences at Dungannon Magistrates Court this month. Thomas Curran and his son James Curran were found guilty of several breaches of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1997/2778, relating to not having a waste management licence and keeping controlled waste in a manner which could cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.
Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) officers conducted an investigation into the illegal landfilling of waste at a site to the rear of Ballytrodden Road, Benburb during 2004/05. On 18 July 2004, James Curran was observed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) directing the disposal of waste at the site and admitted to them that the site was being infilled illegally. Three vehicles connected to the illegal activity were found to be registered to him.
Acting on this information, EHS officers carried out an intrusive survey at the Ballytrodden Road site on 11 August 2004. They observed that commercial waste, including paper, plastics and some electrical waste, originating from businesses in the Portadown area had been buried in a field adjacent to a watercourse which discharges to the Ballymartrim Water, a tributary of the River Blackwater.
