FOUR offenders have been convicted of dumping and burning household and commercial waste including sofas, carpets and caravans near a school.

The waste crime offences occurred at a site off Hazard Lane Livery, in Hetton-le-Hole, which is close to Hetton School, between March and November 2016.

Environment Agency enforcement officers visited the site repeatedly throughout 2016 and found evidence of addresses and contact details amongst the rubbish that led to the offenders.

The officers had found a number of large deposits of general household and commercial waste including sofas, mattresses, a fridge, a washing machine, a set of ladders, wood, cardboard, laminate flooring, carpets, car tyres and several caravans containing waste materials. There was also evidence that burning had taken place.

Karl Bown, 23, of Marlowe Place, in Houghton-le-Spring, appeared for sentencing on Tuesday, June 25 at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court. Bown has two previous convictions for waste crime offences.

An aggravating feature was that Bown would financially benefit from illegally disposing of waste at the site, which is not permitted, avoiding the costs of disposing the items legitimately.

He pleaded guilty, on the day of his trial, to illegally depositing waste and was fined £580, ordered to pay costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £58 totalling £1,638.

David Watkins, Glyn Stubbs and David Thompson, were all sentenced earlier this year after admitting their part in the offending.

Watkins, 58, of Derwent Terrace, Washington, was fined £120 with a victim surcharge of £30 and ordered to contribute £150 towards costs. He admitted failing to carry out checks to ensure waste collected from him was being taken somewhere authorised to accept it.

Stubbs, 44, of Bedale Street, Hetton-le-Hole, admitted illegally depositing waste, fined £240 with a victim surcharge of £30 and ordered to contribute £750 towards costs.

Thompson, 31, of Eskdale Street, Hetton-le-Hole, admitted running the illegal waste site and was fined £200, ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £30.

To report waste crime call the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800-807060 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555111.