Jail for gang who dumped illegal waste in village

A gang has been jailed for illegally dumping tonnes of waste in a field in a Lincolnshire village leading to a £1.2m clean-up operation.

Lorry loads of rubbish were taken "on a daily basis" to the site on Fen Lane, Long Bennington, to be burnt and buried at night, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

An estimated 11,000 tonnes was deposited over a seven-month period earning the group around £500,000.

After repeated complaints from nearby residents and a number of fire service call-outs, the Environment Agency launched an investigation and raided the site alongside police in April 2020.

Passing sentence, Judge Steven Coupland said the gang had turned a grassy field "into a smoking wasteland".

The judge said their actions posed a "high risk to the environment" and had a "substantial effect to those living close to the site".

"A number of local residents whose lives were made a misery by your actions," he said.

He added that some slept in their cars to avoid the "unpleasant acrid smoke".

The court heard the fire service was called out on a number of occasions at an estimated cost of £100,000, with one fire burning for over a month.

Judge Coupland said the "prime mover" behind the scheme was Paul Canner, 53, who sought out rubbish to be illegally dumped and whose role was aggravated by the fact he held a waste disposal licence "so well knew the rules".

"You involved your wife and son who played their part in what was going on," the judge said.

Canner of Main Road, Bilstone, Nuneaton, was jailed for 26 months after pleading guilty to operating an illegal waste site.

His wife Judith Canner, 55, also of Main Road, was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to knowingly causing the deposit of waste at the site.

The court heard she organised a trail of false paperwork and handled the financial side of the operation

Their son, Joshua Canner, 29, of Laburnum Avenue, Newbold Verdon, was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to the same offence.

The remaining defendants pleaded guilty to depositing waste at the site between 1 October 2019 and 1 May 2020.

Nathan Jones, 43, of Carnation Road in Shirebrook, who worked at the site was jailed for 16 months.

The court was told Jones misled councillors and EA officials who visited the site after complaints from residents.

Peter Wainwright, 32, of Dexter Lane, Hurley, Warwickshire, lived on the site in a caravan and played a direct role in burning the waste, for which he was paid £25,000. He was jailed for 16 months.

Sonial Surpal, 52, of Round House Road in Coventry, earned £40,000 driving waste to the site and was jailed for 13 months.

Luke Woodward, 37, of Willow Road in Nuneaton, was jailed for 11 months after admitting driving waste to the site for which he was paid £58,000.

Marcus Chapman 38, of Egmanton Drive, Mansfield, was described in court as "a foot soldier" and helped burn the waste. He received a 12-month jail term, suspended for 18 months.

Daniel Lippitt, 55, of Lubbersthorpe Road in Leicester, also received a nine-month suspended sentence.

Three other people and a company involved in the operation will be sentenced at a later date.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing to decide on financial sanctions will take place in April next year.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.