A man who ran an illegal landfill site on his farm in Wiltshire has been court ordered to pay back £210,000 in the next six months, or face two years imprisonment.

Guy Wentworth, 73, of Ewins Hill Farm in Marlborough, Wiltshire was given the sentence on Monday (21 October), following a previous conviction under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act (regarding the ‘prohibition on unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste’).

The court heard that Wentworth had been convicted of operating a landfill site on his farmland without an environmental permit or exemption certificate in 2011.

Case details

At a sentencing hearing at Salisbury Crown Court on 6 May 2011, it was revealed that whilst on a visit to inspect a legitimate recycling operation at Ewins Hill Farm in 2006, Environment Agency (EA) officers noticed that an unlicensed land filling operation was being conducted on another part of the farm.

Wentworth had reportedly been excavating the chalk that lay under the farmland, and filling the void with waste. The court heard that the waste being deposited in the landfill came from the on-site recycling facilitity, as well as from off-site. The EA estimated that the quantity of fill was around 36,000 cubic metres.

Despite EA officers warning Wentworth of his illegal activities on ‘numerous occasions’, investigations found that he had continued to excavate chalk on his land and landfill waste, ‘which included raising the level of the backfilled land in places'.

Sentencing

At the 2011 hearing, the judge said that ‘repeated warnings’ by the Environment Agency and a ‘lack of response by the defendant’ had made his ‘serious offence’ cross the ‘custodial threshold for sentencing’. As such, Wentworth was sentenced to a term of six months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. It was at this hearing that the Environment Agency made an application for confiscation of Mr Wentworth’s assets.

Earlier this week, the confiscation application was determined and Wentworth was ordered to pay the sum of £209,980, representing the ‘benefit resulting from his crime’. If Wentworth does not pay this sum within six months, he could serve two years in prison. He would also be required to pay the outstanding costs, along with any interest.

As well as the repayment costs, the judge also ordered Wentworth to pay £10,000 to the Environment Agency in ‘costs’.

‘Serious waste crime does not pay’

Speaking after the hearing, Environment Manager Colin Chiverton said: “By operating outside the law Mr Wentworth put the environment at risk as well as undermining legitimate waste businesses.

“We are pleased the court has recognised the severity of Mr Wentworth’s wrongdoing with the confiscation order of £209,908.00. We hope this case sends out a very clear message to those who think they can carry out illegal waste activities for profit that serious waste crime does not pay.”

Anyone wishing to report ‘environmental incidents’ is asked to contact the Environment Agency freephone number: 0900 80 70 60.

Find out more how Environment Agency officers crack down on waste crime in Resource 74.