Council’s new serious environmental crime team scores victory with successful prosecution of serial flytipper

The specialist team, which was set up by Leeds City Council last year, worked alongside colleagues from Wakefield Council to successfully prosecute 29-year-old Daniel Clayton of 43 School Street in Castleford.

Clayton was handed a 39-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, together with 300 hours of unpaid work at Kirklees Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a series of flytipping-related offences, two of which were in Leeds. A Criminal Behaviour Order and forfeiture of Clayton’s vehicle was also ordered.

Leeds SECT officers initially investigated a huge pile of bagged household waste, tiles and rubble which was discovered in a flytipping hotspot off Crag Lane in Alwoodley and found that the rubbish belonged to a resident in Garforth. When interviewed, the resident provided evidence of paying £120 to a company called Total Waste and Recycling – which was later found to have strong links to Daniel Clayton.

A search of Mr Clayton’s social media showed he was actively promoting the company and investigators found a link between the business phone number and Clayton. Residents were paying the company money to have their waste removed, unaware it was being flytipped. Upon interview, Clayton failed to produce any of the documents to prove he held a Waste Carriers Licence and disposed of his business waste legally.

He has since pleaded guilty to the following offences during a hearing at Kirklees Magistrates court:

• Section 33 – unlawful deposit (flytipping) on or before 15.11.2021
• Section 34 – failure to comply with waste Duty of Care to take all reasonable measures to prevent flytipping between 26.1.20 and 26.1.22
• Section 1 – Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 failure to have a Waste Carriers Licence on or before 15.11.21

During the council’s investigation, officers were contacted by Wakefield Council who were investigating flytipping of household waste taken from the Wakefield area and illegally dumped at the Leeds 4x4 Centre in Rothwell. This waste was taken by a tipper type vehicle owned by Clayton and flytipped in Leeds on or around 27 January 2022. This was part of an ongoing investigation after household waste was found dumped on Oakenshaw Lane, Walton, Wakefield on 29 October 2021 which was again removed in a vehicle owned by Clayton. Clayton has also pleaded guilty to these two offences.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for environment and housing, said:

“This is another great prosecution by the council’s serious environmental crime team and serves as a reminder that we will not tolerate flytipping of any kind. We are grateful to our colleagues in neighbouring Wakefield who we worked closely with on this case. I hope this case shows that the council is prepared to use the full force of the law against criminals flytipping and I would urge residents to report any instances of illegal dumping that they see across the city to the team. By working with communities, we can swiftly remove the rubbish which interferes with people’s everyday lives and harms the environment and take action against the offenders.”