Illegal Dumping & Site Fires Alert Authorities to Repeat Offences : Jail for Repeat Waste Criminal in Hampshire, UK
A previously convicted Hampshire waste boss has been jailed in the UK for a further string of offences following a joint operation by the Test Valley Borough Council, Southampton City Council and Hampshire Police and the Environment Agency (EA).
The agency explained that Marcus Bairstow, 41, of Southampton appeared before Southampton Crown Court on Wednesday 14 September and pleaded guilty to a total of five offences. He was sentenced to 30 weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £150.
The Court heard that Mr Bairstow was previously convicted in March 2011 following a major multi-agency investigation into the dumping of waste in the county. He collected waste in Southampton and took it out into the countryside to fly tip.
He was convicted on numerous counts and given two years in prison and an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) for five years. The order bans him from most waste activities other than lawfully carrying waste.
In May 2015 Bairstow began to rent a small plot of land at Park Farm, Stoneham Lane at Eastleigh. He told the owner he wanted to bring skips and sort waste on site in addition to burning it.
However, fires began to occur as waste accumulated and in July a large blaze broke out. Fire and police services attended and discovered that a fire on site had ignited a tree and fencing which subsequently set alight timber belonging to a builder in an adjacent unit.
Bairstow attended the site and gave his details to a police officer and admitted his responsibility and said that he had insurance.
Before that, in January 2015, a developer had waste on site at Padwell Road in Southampton which was collected by Bairstow. Subsequently a farmer found that entry to his land near Rownhams had been forced, and this waste had been dumped there.
Further, a van belonging to Bairstow was seen in the car park of the Talking Heads public House in Portswood in February 2015. Two men, one of which was identified as Bairstow, tipped large quantity of waste from the truck as it left the car park.
He was also exposed by the BBC’s Rogue Traders programme which bugged and tracked waste and filmed Bairstow dumping it.
Bairstow was arrested in September last year for the new offences and breach of his ASBO.
The judge, Miss Recorder Bussey-Jones, said Bairstow committed deliberate acts which were carried out for financial gain and were a flagrant breach of his court order.
“We are constantly gathering information on illegal waste sites, criminal activities and environmental crime in Hampshire and across the country as a whole,” commented Nigel Oliver of the Environment Agency. “Together with our partners we are taking a zero tolerance approach against waste offenders.”
The added that in cases like this where individuals such as Mr Bairstow consistently operate illegally, the agency hasabsolutely no hesitation in prosecuting them.
“Bairstow was clearly aware of his obligations and responsibilities in the handling and treatment of waste but yet again wilfully ignored them, putting the local environment at repeated risk. I hope today’s ruling serves as a deterrent to any individual or company in showing that waste crime does not pay,” concluded Oliver.
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