Waste criminal sentenced for illegal dumping at sites including Westwood unit which was hit with 25 day blaze
Firefighters at the former Cummins unit Photo Tyrone KeenA prolific waste criminal has been ordered to hand over more than £1.4 million for illegally dumping more than 4,000 tonnes of waste across England, including construction and household waste that fuelled a fire that burned at a Westwood industrial estate unit for 25 days in September 2018.A nationwide investigation by the Environment Agency uncovered a network of 16 illegal dumping sites, stretching from the South East to the North West.Places the waste was dumped included the Westwood industrial estate unit, a farm on the outskirts of Peterborough and a manor house at Ewhurst in Surrey.At the Westwood unit, which was packed with 6,000 bales of the waste according to the Environment Agency, routine complaints about flies began in 2017. As the weather warmed up, frustrated residents rang Thanet council to report swarms of flies close to the building.Bailed waste (Photo EA)Officials at Thanet District Council contacted the Environment Agency, which began an investigation. It discovered the illegal storage of thousands of bales of household and construction waste inside the building, unit P, on the Westwood Business Park.Firefighters were called to a blaze, at the former Cummins building, at 6.20am on Saturday, September 15, 2018.At the height of the fire there were 80 firefighters, 14 engines and specialist vehicles on the scene. Acrid smoke from the blaze covered Westwood and Margate, and even further afield, throughout the duration of the incident. Northdown Primary was closed due to “unsafe carbon monoxide readings.”Firefighters had to spend 25 days battling the flames as roads and businesses closed and the disruption led to operations cancelled at QEQM hospital.The Westwood industrial unit blaze Image Simon MooresVarun Datta, 36, of Little Chester Street, in Belgravia, must now pay £1.1 million, reflecting the financial benefit from his crimes, plus £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs.He was also hit with a prison sentence of four months, suspended for 18 months, as well as 30 days’ rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.The case, heard at Birmingham crown court, also saw two others prosecuted.Mohammed Saraji Bashir, from Peterborough, got a four-month suspended prison sentence, unpaid work and period of rehabilitation, while Robert McAllister, from north London, was fined £750. Warrants for the arrest of two other men are still active.Re3mains Photo Adrian SmithTwo more waste criminals, David Weeks and Lee Brookes, were given suspended prison sentences last year for storing illegal waste at the Margate unit.Towards the end of 2019, and almost three years after the first delivery of rubbish, what waste survived the fire was finally removed by the battered building’s new owner.Emma Viner, enforcement and investigations manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, said: “We are glad to see the Datta, Bashir and McAllister brought to justice in this appalling case.“Despite attempting to conceal their criminality, our in-depth investigation spanning the length and breadth of the country ultimately uncovered them.“We will never stop fighting to end the scourge of waste crime that scars our environment and communities.”Photo John HortonEnvironment secretary Emma Reynolds said: “This is a shocking case of illegal waste dumping, orchestrated by a group of shameless crooks who thought they could operate above the law.“I welcome the punishments secured by the Environment Agency – which send a clear message to criminals that they have nowhere to hide.“The Government is committed to stamping out this type of criminality across the country by boosting funds to tackle waste crime, and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who break the law.”In 2018, the Environment Agency seized £131,520 in cash from Datta’s home address. In 2022, a restraint order was applied to two bank accounts ensuring that any future confiscation order could be paid.After pleading not guilty in 2023, Datta changed his plea to guilty in June last year to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited at the sixteen sites. The total weight of the waste was around 4,275 tonnes – roughly the weight of 600 African elephants.The fire at Westwood Industrial Estate Photo John HortonThe offences were branded “reckless” by judge Paul Farrar KC. “Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality,” he said, with landowners “forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste.”No environmental permit or valid exemption was in place at any of the sites, which were also spread across Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Middlesborough and Rutland.Clearance work Photo Adrian SmithThe court heard that Datta became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, in 2015. He acted recklessly by claiming the waste the company handled was being sent to a legal site at Kiveton Park, near Sheffield. However, the loads were actually diverted to unlicensed dumps around the country. It is alleged that an associate, Sandeep Golechha, 55, of Wheatley Close, Barnet, north London, helped to falsify weighbridge documents to cover up the illegal acts.Warrants for Sandeep Golechha and Jason Newman, of no fixed abode, are still active.Anyone who suspects illegal waste activity is asked to report it to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour hotline – 0800 807060 – or anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.Twenty-five day blaze at Westwood industrial unit fuelled by household and construction rubbishClearance underway for business park plan at Westwood industrial unit ravaged by three-week illegal waste blazeRevealed: Probe into huge Westwood fire forms part of national investigationNew owners for Westwood site where firefighters fought 25 day blaze last year
