Northern Ireland

Fermanagh man (51) who buried almost 20,000 tonnes of waste avoids going to jail

Stephen Harron leaves Dungannon courthouse. Picture by Alan Lewis, Photopress
Stephen Harron leaves Dungannon courthouse. Picture by Alan Lewis, Photopress Stephen Harron leaves Dungannon courthouse. Picture by Alan Lewis, Photopress

A FERMANAGH man who saved nearly £2 million by illegally burying almost 20,000 tonnes of waste on his land has avoided going to jail.

Stephen Harron (51) was handed a 12-month sentence after he admitted dumping waste on two parcels of land at his Arney Road home in Arney Skea outside Enniskillen, between January 2008 and May 2015.

But Judge Paul Ramsey told him that in light of all the circumstances, in particular his removal, at his own cost, of some of the non-hazardous materials, his sentence would be suspended for two years.

Harron pleaded guilty to four charges - one of unlawfully depositing waste and three of keeping controlled waste.

He is to appear before the courts again to decide how much, if anything, he must pay-up by way of "confiscation".

Previously, Omagh Crown Court heard that an estimated 19,721 tonnes of waste - of which only 570 tonnes had not been buried - was found on Harron's land.

The court heard it would have cost £1,835,214 to legitimately dispose of the waste, which was both domestic and commercial.

Until December 2005, Harron had been a registered controlled waste carrier, operating two companies - Arney Skip Hire and S Harron Contracts.

In March 2013, officers from the Northern Ireland Environmental Agency first visited his land and dug eight test pits after finding several mounds of plastic waste.

He claimed it had been left by "two men from Sligo", who had rented the site and whose company had since gone bust.

The court heard the waste was found in all but one pit, consisting of plastic, food packaging, carpet fragments, wood, glass, metal, wires, insulation foam and several baton ammunition round castings.

Although newspapers recovered dated back to 1994, an indication of the age of the site, this was prior to the introduction of waste management legislation.

Another pit was dug at the other side of Harron's home, and similar types of waste were recovered immediately under the surface.

He told NIEA officials he had infilled a small area behind a stone cottage in order to create a hard standing area.

In December 2014 NIEA officers again visited the site and saw 16 bags of peat with large piles of plastic waste.

A prosecution lawyer said the following May officers returned and found "the site continued to contain a significant amount of historical waste consisting of plastics, piping, wiring, tyres, electrical equipment and other waste".

Mr Harron told NIEA officers he was in the process of removing the waste.

He did remove the unburied waste at his own expense, which the prosecution described as "a somewhat unusual step".

Defence lawyer Ian Turkington said that until 2005 Harron had been licensed to deal with waste, but he had suffered a fall, breaking several bones in his back.

"This is a man who bitterly regrets his involvement in these offences... a man never before the court until this," the lawyer said.

James Orr, director for Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland, the case "further underlines the extent of waste crime in Northern Ireland".

"This is a multi-million pound criminal enterprise," he said.

Mr Orr said tougher sanctions must be brought against people found guilty of such crimes.

"The seriousness of the crime should be reflected in the penalties but for years it seems that the proper sanctions aren't being taken against environmental crimes."

He added that although the assembly called for an inquiry into waste crime in March 2014, one has never been set up