MAN IS SENTENCED FOR HAVING NO PERMIT

MAN IS SENTENCED FOR HAVING NO PERMIT

- BY LAYCIE BECK [e-mail]

A MAN who told an officer that he hoped he got cancer and died has been handed a suspended prison sentence for running an illegal waste site in Lincolnshire. Matthew Berry’s company, SBR Foxhills Limited, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,626.35 and a £190 surcharge.

Berry and the company have also received a confiscation order of £45,000, representing the recovery of the proceeds from the crime, whilst Berry must also pay £5,000 in costs and a surcharge of £154 himself. The 46-year-old is the sole director of the company.

In 2021 he became interested in a site at Thorpe Farm, Skendleby, close to Spilsby. He took over in April and began a clearance operation, with the site having no environmental permit or other authorisation to store or treat waste.

As there was already some waste at the site, Berry agreed to move baled waste and remove waste vehicles to a breaker’s site, and brought heavy plant to the site for that purpose. However, instead of clearing and improving the site, he dumped the baled waste on a cracked concrete pad with no sealed drainage and an unsealed manhole cover.