The owner of Melksham Metals Recycling, Lee Hazel, has been ordered to pay almost £2 million he made from running an illegal waste site in Wiltshire or face an eight-year jail sentence.
In an announcement by the Environment Agency on Friday (20 October), the Agency stated that the ruling marked the end of a five-year investigation into Mr Hazel and Melksham Metals.
Melksham Metals Recycling site in Wiltshire.
The investigation was run by the Agency and Wiltshire Police, with Wiltshire Police conducting the financial aspects of the investigation.
Mr Hazel appeared before Swindon Crown Court in July 2017, where he was warned he would face a prison sentence if he failed to pay the full amount owed under a confiscation order made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
In July, the confiscation order was for £2.74 million, but this figure was reduced to £1.99 million at the Crown Court following an application to amend the judgement.
Mr Hazel’s lawyers argued that when calculating the amount their client had benefited from the crime, the Agency wrongly included a figure for VAT and had mistakenly included invoices for ferrous metals.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “These were serious offences committed by a waste operator who has little respect for the law and the environment. He was motivated by financial gain and carried out unauthorised activities over a number of years.
“This case should serve as a warning to anyone in the waste industry who thinks they can flout the law. Where we have the evidence, we won’t hesitate to prosecute offenders.”
Unlawful waste activities
Mr Hazel had been warned on several occasions about unlawful waste activities.
The five-year investigation was run by the Environment Agency and Wiltshire Police.
The illegal activities were first spotted in 2011 when an enforcement officer from Wiltshire Council visited Melksham.
The officer found piles of chalky stone, tarmac, road planings and concrete pipes at the Queenfield Farm. He noticed a trail of ‘chalky’ liquid in the road similar in colour to the waste he had seen at the farm and followed the trail back to a road leading to Melksham Metal Recycling.
In June 2014, Mr Hazel was found guilty of four charges in relation to the dumping of waste at Queenfield Farm, Melksham.
And in November 2015, the owner and sole trader of his company pleaded guilty to a further five charges, each relating to unauthorised waste activities at his Station Yard premises in Bath Road, Melksham.
Mr Hazel admitted the unauthorised treatment of controlled waste at Station Yard from 2004-2008, breaching a waste control license, operating a regulated facility without a permit and having waste without authorisation.
Melksham Metals was also ordered to pay a £100 fine for each of the seven offences it pleaded guilty to.
In February 2016, Mr Hazel received an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for running an illegal waste operation at Station Yard and for the tipping of waste at a farm. Following this, the Agency had revoked the company’s operating licence and the site had closed down.
The post Melksham Metals boss to pay £2m appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Metal
