Prolific waste dumper to pay £1.2m compensation

A prolific waste criminal has been ordered to pay £1.2m in compensation for illegally dumping more than 4,000 tonnes of waste across England.

A nationwide investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) uncovered a network of 16 illegal dumping sites, including a manor house in Surrey, a farm in Cambridgeshire and a warehouse in Kent.

The total weight of the waste dumped was about 4,275 tonnes – roughly the weight of 600 African elephants.

Varun Datta, 36, was handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

He must also pay £1.1m, reflecting the financial benefit from his crimes, plus £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Datta, of Central London, became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, in 2015.

Judge Paul Farrar KC said that he acted recklessly by claiming the waste the company handled was being sent to a legal site near Sheffield. However, the loads were diverted to unlicensed dumps around the country.

"Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality," Farrar said, with landowners "forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste".

No environmental permit or valid exemption was in place at any of the sites, which were also spread across Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and Rutland.

In 2018, the EA seized £131,520 in cash from Datta's home address.

After pleading not guilty in 2023, he changed his plea to guilty in June last year.

Mohammed Saraji Bashir, from Peterborough, was also given a four-month suspended prison sentence, unpaid work and period of rehabilitation, while Robert McAllister, from north London, was fined £750.

Warrants for the arrest of two other men are still active, the EA said.

Two more waste criminals, David Weeks and Lee Brookes, were also given suspended prison sentences last year for the waste stored illegally at a rat-infested industrial unit in Margate.

Emma Viner, enforcement and investigations manager at the EA, labelled it an "appalling case".

"Despite attempting to conceal their criminality, our in-depth investigation spanning the length and breadth of the country ultimately uncovered them," she said.

"We will never stop fighting to end the scourge of waste crime that scars our environment and communities."

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the waste dumping was "orchestrated by a group of shameless crooks".

"This government is committed to stamping out this type of criminality across the country by boosting funds to tackle waste crime and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who break the law," she added.