Criminal's own dashcam leads to his conviction for mass fly-tipping along with 6 others
Seven men have been sentenced at Winchester Crown Court following an Environment Agency prosecution into a large-scale illegal waste dumping
Seven men have been sentenced at Winchester Crown Court following an Environment Agency prosecution into a large-scale illegal waste dumping operation which saw hundreds of tonnes of controlled waste unlawfully deposited at two sites with no environmental permits.
The court heard that on the morning of 31 July 2019, a convoy of lorries dumped approximately 200 tonnes of shredded household and commercial waste at Kingsclere Lime Quarry, near Tadley, Hampshire. The owners of the quarry had given no one permission to dump waste on their land.
At least 550 tonnes of waste was also dumped and buried at a site behind the former Plough pub in Farcet, just south of Peterborough. Diggers were used to excavate holes in the ground, into which the waste was deposited and buried.
Barry Wilkes, Peter Elliott, David Hannah, Laurentiu Boaca, Michael Tucker, Mohammed Waqar Bashir and Steven Rozario were each convicted of various offences relating to the illegal dumping of controlled waste.
Dashcam footage from Peter Elliott’s lorry captured the unlawful waste activities at both sites and provided key evidence in the prosecution. Michael Tucker was identified on the footage operating earth-moving machinery to dig holes and assist in the movement of waste at the Plough site.
Mohammed Waqar Bashir, Mr Tucker’s employee, was seen directing vehicles and organising the waste dumping at the Plough.
Laurentiu Boaca was identified as the driver of a distinctive lorry captured arriving at Kingsclere Lime Quarry with a lorry full of waste. He claimed in interview that his lorry's tipping mechanism had jammed, preventing him from depositing the load but he was convicted of attempting to deposit.
Steven Rozario, as sole director of Active Management Facilities Limited, acted as the waste broker, arranging for waste from at least three producer sites to be transported using Barry Wilkes’s company, Wembley Group Ltd, as haulier. The court heard that Rozario's company failed to meet basic duty of care requirements. Waste transfer documentation was seriously deficient: notes lacked proper destination details, confirmation of receiving site permits, and evidence that waste had reached its lawful end destination.
Colin Chiverton, Area Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
"This was a serious, organised and brazen criminal operation that saw hundreds of tonnes of controlled waste dumped and buried at sites completely unfit and unpermitted to receive it. The damage caused to those sites, and the risk posed to the surrounding environment and communities, is entirely unacceptable”.
The investigation highlighted the importance of partnership working in the fight against waste crime, in this case officers from Hampshire Police and the Environment Agency. By responding swiftly to reports of illegal dumping at Kingsclere Lime Quarry crucial evidence in the form of dashcam footage was seized from a lorry which led the investigation team to the offending that had taken place in the preceding days at the site in Cambridgeshire. Without this evidence nobody would have known about the hundreds of tonnes of waste that had been buried there.
Mr Chiverton continued “Our immediate intervention at this site also stopped the offending in its tracks, preventing what could have been a much more serious situation with lasting environmental impacts at a chalk quarry.
"All seven defendants had clear legal responsibilities — as lorry operators, site managers, waste haulier, transport manager and waste broker — and all seven chose to ignore them. We will pursue those involved in waste crime at every level of the chain, from drivers to brokers”.
At sentencing, Barry Wilkes, sole director of haulage company Wembley Group Ltd, who the Judge said was the most responsible was given a Community Order for 12 months with a requirement to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £10,000; David Hannah, transport manager for Wembley Group Limited was given a Community Order for 12 months with a requirement to complete ten hours rehabilitation activity dates and ordered to pay a financial penalty of £300; Wembley Group driver Peter Elliott was given a Community Order for 12 months with a requirement to complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
Lorry driver and director of Oituz Logistics, Laurentiu Boaca was given a Community Order for 12 months with a requirement to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £400 costs.
Michael Tucker, sole director of Blue Rock Group Limited and in charge of operations at the Plough site was given a community order for 12 months with a requirement to complete 120 hours of unpaid work. His employee Mohammed Waqar Bashir was given a Community Order for 12 months with a requirement to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and pay £400 costs.
Steven Rozario, sole director of Active Management Facilities Limited, a registered waste broker was fined £2000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs.