The man, named Christopher Garrett, was also ordered to pay a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation sum of £200,000.
The Environment Agency (EA) said he is thought to be “the worst offender” it has seen in Devon and Cornwall, due to the quantity of asbestos he illegally disposed of.
Exeter crown court heard that Garrett, aged 64, of Little Lindridge Cottage, Kingsteignton, “repeatedly imported waste” onto his land, despite being previous prosecutions and multiple warnings from the EA.
Following the recent hearing, he was sentenced to a total of 32 months in prison, of which he will serve half, after pleading guilty to charges of running a waste facility without a permit, and for disposing of waste material, namely asbestos, in a manner likely to harm the environment or human health.
The court heard that between July 2018 and May 2022, around 12,000 tonnes of controlled waste – mixed construction and demolition waste – was deposited on land designated as a floodplain at Garrett’s home, alongside the A380 dual carriageway.
Several warnings
The investigation established that Garrett had received hundreds of thousands of pounds for the illegal tipping and that it would cost at least £2.5 million to “remediate” the site.
His combined financial benefit from the offending was put at £2.88 million, including the remediation costs. He was ordered to pay back the value of his available assets of £200,885.
In 2016, Garrett received a two-year suspended prison sentence for allowing asbestos waste to be disposed at the site without a permit, but in 2019, the EA heard that he was again importing waste to his land. Garrett “ignored all instructions” to stop his illegal activities. Officers visited the site several times, including on one occasion with a police escort, due to the defendant being “hostile” towards the EA, which he was later prosecuted for.
In May 2022, a warrant was obtained allowing a search of Garrett’s property and extensive site investigations using heavy machinery. Bags containing asbestos were found buried in the ground and the site was “riddled” with smaller fragments of hazardous waste. Records and documents obtained by Enforcement Officers established that Garrett had imported waste to his land during the period of his suspended sentence, and that he had made “thousands of pounds” from his illegal activities.
During sentencing, Judge Adkin told Garrett: “You were unable to resist the lure of significant sums of money” and described the offences as “industrial scale environmental contamination committed by an individual”.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Garrett is a repeat offender who showed no care for the environment or human health. He took no notice of the previous warnings given by the courts and the Environment Agency and imported hazardous waste, burying it to make a quick profit.”
lets hope the waste producers were also prosecuted