It has said sentences have included prison sentences spanning 6.5 years and fines totalling more than £103,000.
The EA reported the defendants have “shown a complete disregard for environmental laws”.
According to the Environment Agency the six defendants appeared at Teesside Crown court for sentencing on 20 May 2024.
‘Disregard’
Gary Wallace, area environment manager for the Environment Agency in the Northeast, said: “All of those sentenced have shown a complete disregard for environmental laws, which are there to protect people and the environment. They could have been in no doubt that the sites were operating illegally and posed a significant fire risk, but repeatedly ignored our officers’ warnings about bringing the sites back into compliance and making them safe.
“The walls of waste resulted in two major fires, impacting on the environment and causing misery for local residents. Waste criminals cause distress to our communities and can destroy the environment and this case demonstrates that we’ll do everything in our power to ensure they are brought to justice for their crimes.”
Case
SESL operated at Liverton between December 2018 and February 2019 with Jonathan Brudenell and Laura Hepburn involved. The EA reported that the company exceeded its waste exemption limit of 500 tonnes “almost immediately”, which prompted it to investigate.
The EA found that by February 2019, SESL had accumulated 907 tonnes of waste. Ms Hepburn deregistered SESL’s exemptions and established Greenology (Liverton), but the site continued to breach waste storage limits. Despite repeated warnings and enforcement notices, Greenology failed to comply, and a major fire broke out in April2 020.
The court found the defendants repeatedly ignored advice from the EA about waste management and fire risks at three sites. In what the EA has said was “an apparent bid” to protect the Greenology brand, Ms Hepburn changed the company name to LM South Yorkshire upon learning of the prosecution for the Liverton site.
In a separate case taking place at the Old Eldon Brickworks in Bishop Auckland, Mr Waldron, director of Falcons Two, failed to comply with enforcement notices, which led to “excessive waste storage” and a fire in August 2020.
Teesside
The Greenology site in Teesside, also managed by Ms Hepburn, exceeded its waste tyre storage limits which caused it to pose a “significant” fire risk. The EA also reported that claims of developing a pyrolysis plant for recycling tyre were made. However, no such facility was built, and the site continued handling excessive waste.
Mr Brudenell’s involvement in both SESL and Greenology (Liverton) breached a bankruptcy restriction order imposed, due to previous fraud offences. Despite multiple enforcement actions and warnings from the Environment Agency, the defendants’ non-compliance led to severe environmental damage and risks to public safety.
Sentences
Jonathan Brudenell was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison. Laura Hepburn received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid community work. Mr Waldron was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, with probation supervision, rehabilitation, and 150 hours of unpaid community work. Additionally, he was fined £9,000 in costs.
Greenology (Liverton) was fined £69,000, Greenology (Teesside) was fined £20,000, and SESL was fined £14,666.66.
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