Marcus Bairstow, 41, from Southampton, appeared before Southampton Crown Court yesterday (14 September) and pleaded guilty to a total of five offences.
The Judge, Miss Recorder Bussey-Jones, said Mr Bairstow committed deliberate acts which were carried out for financial gain and were a flagrant breach of a court order issued in 2011.
2011
The Court heard that Mr Bairstow was convicted in March 2011 following a major multi-agency investigation into the dumping of waste in the county. Mr Bairstow collected waste in Southampton and took it out into the countryside to fly tip.
He was convicted on numerous counts and received a two-year prison sentence as well as an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) for five years, which bans him from most waste activities other than lawfully carrying waste.
Mr Bairstow was also exposed by the BBC’s Rogue Traders programme which bugged and tracked waste and filmed him dumping it.
Dumping
Despite this, in May 2015 Mr Bairstow began to rent a small plot of land at Park Farm, Stoneham Lane at Eastleigh. He told the owner he wanted to bring skips and sort waste on site in addition to burning it.
I hope today’s ruling serves as a deterrent to any individual or company in showing that waste crime does not pay
Nigel Oliver, Environment Agency
Fires started to occur as waste accumulated until a large blaze broke out in July. Fire and police services attended and discovered that a fire on site had ignited a tree and fencing which subsequently set alight timber belonging to a builder in an adjacent unit.
Mr Bairstow attended the site and gave his details to a police officer and admitted his responsibility and that he had insurance.
Before this, in January 2015, he collected waste from a developer site on Padwell Road in Southampton. Subsequently, a farmer found that entry to his land near Rownhams had been forced, and this waste had been dumped there.
And, a van belonging to him was also seen in the car park of the Talking Heads pub in Portswood in February 2015. Two men, one of which was identified as Mr Bairstow, tipped a large quantity of waste from the truck as it left the car park.
Mr Bairstow was arrested in September last year for the new offences and breach of his ASBO. He was handed a custodial sentence and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £150.
‘Zero tolerance’
Nigel Oliver of the Environment Agency said the organisation was constantly clamping down on illegal waste operations in Hampshire and across the UK, and had “absolutely no hesitation” in prosecuting repeat offenders.
He added: “Bairstow was clearly aware of his obligations and responsibilities in the handling and treatment of waste but yet again wilfully ignored them, putting the local environment at repeated risk. I hope today’s ruling serves as a deterrent to any individual or company in showing that waste crime does not pay.”
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