Waste criminal handed three more years in prison

Hugh ODonnell, 65, is still in prison serving a four and a half year sentence handed to him in June 2011 for waste crimes and money laundering (see letsrecycle.com story), as a result of which he was then ordered on May 3 2012 to repay 917,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) or face more time in prison (see letsrecycle.com story).

The 917,000 confiscation order given to Reading businessman ODonnell in 2012 was at the time the largest ever POCA ruling the Environment Agency has secured against an individual.

However, ODonnell still owes 578,845.71 and he was yesterday (30 May) jailed for an additional 1036 days at Westminster Magistrates Court after failing to pay the full amount of the confiscation order.

On completion of his third sentence, ODonnell will have served the longest sentence for waste related crimes. The Environment Agency said the investigation into ODonnell had been one of the biggest and most complex it has ever undertaken.

According to the Agency, ODonnells illegal waste business netted millions of pounds in profit by taking skips loads of construction and demolition waste to a site in Aldermaston, near Reading, to be dumped in an illegal landfill.

Investigation

He was first jailed in 2009 for possession of an illegal firearm, uncovered during an Environment Agency investigation, and then sent back to prison the day after his release in 2011 for money laundering and waste offences.

Angus Innes, prosecution team leader for the Agency, said: The Environment Agency wants to make sure that serious waste crime doesnt pay, we dont just catch criminals – we want to confiscate the assets theyve gained from crime.

This investigation has been one of the biggest and most complex ever undertaken by the Environment Agency and our partner agencies, in particular the London Regional Asset Recovery Team, to proactively target an organised criminal gang running an illegal waste site.

He added: This sentence sends out a message that failure to pay proceeds of waste crime is dealt with by the courts seriously and you can and will be sent to jail until the monies are paid in full.

The extended sentence for Mr ODonnell follows a three year sentence for Amrik Johal, 55, earlier this month, who had attempted to board a flight to Delhi on May 16, 2013 without paying the full amount of a 881,513 confiscation order for waste crimes he was convicted of in 2010.