Men sentenced after illegal waste mountains rotted

Waste at Codicote Quarry, in Hertfordshire had mounted up over the years, the Environment Agency said

Two brothers, who stored so much illegal waste in a quarry that it could fill up the Royal Albert Hall three times over, have been sentenced.

Liam Winters, 46, and Mark Winters, 49, both from Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to disposing unlawfully large quantities of household and business rubbish at Codicote Quarry, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire between 2015 and 2017.

Liam, from Hillmorton, Rugby, was jailed for one year and five month and Mark, from Oxford Street, Rugby, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years, after the hearing at St Albans Crown Court.

The Environment Agency (EA) prosecuted the directors of Codicote Quarry Ltd, and said they "showed a flagrant disregard for the law and the effect of their business on the environment". The brothers were also banned from being company directors for eight years.

The Environment Agency said the sentencing had sent out a strong message that it would prosecute waste site operators who did not follow the rules for disposal

The court heard the brothers were allowed to treat and store a small amount of soil waste at the site, but could not hold large volumes.

However, electrical items, car parts, furniture, food packaging, wood and metal were all among the 200,000 cubic metres of banned and "potentially harmful" material the Winters siblings dumped.

The site will be monitored "to minimise risk of polluting the River Mimram and groundwater sources as the quarry was not set up for landfill," EA said.

Waste was buried under chalk at Codicote Quarry

The brothers were first questioned by the EA in 2017 about the amount of waste the quarry was holding.

Several on-site checks followed to get them to comply with the law, but the agency claims the waste piles "grew and began to decompose".

The pair buried some of the rubbish more than 12 metres (40ft) deep in places under a layer of chalk and also left mountains of it above ground.

In November 2017, the agency suspended the quarry's permit.

Environmental officers inspected the waste

Liam also allowed a mountain of illegal waste, about 20m (66ft) high, to be stored at Anstey Quarry. Rubbish was also hidden under a landscaped area at Nuthampstead shooting ground in Royston.

Barry Russell, environment manager for the EA in Hertfordshire, said actions like this had "the potential to harm our natural resources, blight communities and undermine the legitimate businesses who do stick to the law".

A decision on costs or a confiscation order will be considered at later date.