Prison terms for Bucks father and son over criminal waste site
The landowners burned piles of waste at their Mop End farm despite warnings
A Buckinghamshire father and son have been given prison sentences after illegally burning waste.
An investigation by the Environment Agency has seen a father and son receive prison sentences for illegally burning waste at their Mop End farm near Amersham.
David and Nicholas Channer were convicted, with the latter jailed, after the EA investigation found they were continually storing and lighting the rubbish despite letters and visits warning them to stop.
Nicholas Channer was sent to prison for 13 months, including five months for breaching an unrelated suspended sentence. David Channer received a six-month jail term, suspended for two years.
David Channer admitted burning waste collected from elsewhere, leading district judge Malcolm Dodds to say the 67-year-old was “pig-headed” for not responding to “plentiful warnings” from the Environment Agency.
DJ Dodds added Channer took no steps to limit the effect of his son’s tree maintenance firm as the illegal rubbish built up.
Charlotte Milton, a senior environmental crime officer for the Environment Agency, said:
“David and Nicholas Channer have been rightly punished by the courts for riding roughshod over the law around managing waste safely and securely.
“The men had no system in place to limit the amount or type of waste held at Mop End Farm. Nor did they establish measures to protect the environment or human health.
“The law requires anyone dealing with waste to keep it safe, make sure it’s handled responsibly, and only given to businesses authorised to take it.
“Anyone with suspicions of waste crime can call our incident hotline, 0800 807060, or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111.”
High Wycombe magistrates’ court was shown body-worn video and photographs of large piles of rubbish on fire – painted and treated wood, green waste, chipboard and plastic among the items burning.
When asked to explain their actions, the Channers told the agency they either hadn’t seen letters from crime officers, or were unaware exemptions from permits for managing the waste had expired.
The agency had been alerted to what the men were doing by Buckinghamshire County Council.
Crime officers visited Mop End Farm in January. Open land was used to hoard everything from white goods to soil, bricks and wood they would later torch.
Nicholas Channer confessed to holding 100 tons of scrap metal there he obtained from online customers or by driving around looking for it.
David Channer and Nicholas Channer, both of Mop End Farm, Mop End, Buckinghamshire, each pleaded guilty to eight counts under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
As well as his suspended prison term, David Channer was ordered by High Wycombe magistrates’ court to pay the Environment Agency’s full costs of £14,925, and a £115 victim surcharge. In a separate hearing at Aylesbury crown court, in addition to his custodial sentence, Nicholas Channer was fined £40,000, with full costs of £15,122.45, and a victim surcharge of £140.
The pair were prosecuted eight years ago for committing similar offences.