The prosecution of an Ipswich man this week has resulted in him being ordered to pay a £250 fine and £500 costs for fly-tipping household waste last summer.
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Paul Watchman, 27 years, of Hawke Road, Ipswich, was ordered to pay £765 by Ipswich Magistrates on Tuesday, 5 March, 2013, after finding him guilty of dumping waste on land without an environmental permit. Mr Watchman was fined £250 for dumping the waste, as well as being ordered to pay £500 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
On 25 June 2012, operatives from Babergh District Council attended Holbrook Road, Harkstead in response to reports of a transit van’s worth of household waste, including broken furniture and a mattress, which had been dumped on a public footpath. A delivery label found among the waste allowed Babergh’s Environmental Protection Team to trace its origin, through a national retailer, back to an address in Ipswich. On making enquiries with the resident it was revealed she had paid Mr Watchman, to remove the waste on her behalf, believing that he would take it to the household waste site.
Babergh asked Mr Watchman to attend an interview under caution at the council offices in order to explain his involvement but he failed to attend. The matter was first brought to court on 5th February 2013, when Mr Watchman pleaded not guilty.
However, on returning to court this week Mr Watchman was faced with additional information from the householder who had paid him to dispose of the waste and he subsequently changed his plea to guilty and was fined accordingly.
Matthew Bullock, Babergh’s Environmental Protection Officer said: “We are really pleased with yesterday’s result which I hope will send a clear message that fly-tipping is illegal and the Council will not hesitate to take formal action where the perpetrator can be traced. The amount Mr Watchman has been ordered to pay acknowledges the cost incurred by tax payers to investigate and clear fly-tipping.”
