Former council composting chief fined in credits case

Malcolm Dixon, 50, the former head of environmental services with Castle Morpeth Borough Council in Northumberland, pleaded guilty to the charge at Newcastle Crown Court where he appeared following a lengthy Fraud Squad investigation into his activities by Northumbria Police.

Dixon was facing a trial lasting several days but 20 charges of false accounting which had been brought against him were dropped at the last minute.

He admitted making a false statement about the origin of waste and was fined 500 and ordered to pay 500 costs in the case last Friday.

Famous
Mr Dixon was famous throughout the recycling sector of local government for the borough's supposed achievements in the 1990s. He was also a senior member of LARAC, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, Between 1993 and 2000 Mr Dixon, of Sunderland Road, South Shields, spearheaded Castle Morpeth Council's household waste recycling and composting scheme, which earned the authority a reputation as one of the top performers in the country.

Its claimed 36.6% recycling rate put it second in a national league table in 2000 but it was later revealed the figures were bogus.

In 2000 he was suspended by the council following an internal audit investigation which revealed irregularities in his department.
He resigned in October 2000 and a month later was sacked for alleged gross misconduct.

An independent investigation ordered by the council concluded that he had wrongly claimed 150,000 in recycling credits from Northumberland County Council, which Castle Morpeth had to repay.

He was accused of claiming credits for waste which he obtained from other local authorities in the region which had never even passed through Northumberland.

Cost to council

Castle Morpeth councillors say his activities have cost the council up to 200,000. Alistair Webster QC, defending Mr Dixon, told the court he had been more interested in results than the niceties of accounts.

It was said Mr Dixon had been under pressure from councillors to ensure his recycling scheme was self-financing, that he had made no personal financial gain from his activities and that the public had benefited environmentally.

Mr Webster said: “He was a busy man, committed to recycling and reducing the impact on the environment. He knew recycling attracted credits and didn't think it was important whether it was Northumberland County Council or another authority who paid them.”

After 22 years in local government, finding work was now difficult for Dixon and his pension fund had been frozen. “The effect this has had on his life has been out of all proportion to the gravity of the case.”