The owners of land where Stephen Williams dumped the piles of rubbish had to pay tens of thousands to clear it up
Stephen Williams pleaded guilty to illegally depositing waste at three separate sites across Wales(Image: Natural Resources Wales )
A man convicted for waste offences after pleading guilty to illegally depositing waste at three separate sites across Wales has been ordered to pay back £322,500. Of the three offences, the fire service deemed some to be a “high fire risk”.
Stephen Williams, 69, from Tondu, Bridgend was the sole company director for two waste removal companies, Wenvoe Environmental Limited and Servmax Limited. Natural Resources Wales say he first pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste through the companies without an environmental permit at sites in Caerphilly, Cowbridge and Dolgellau between October 2018 and October 2019 at Cardiff Crown Court in February last year.
Charges against Mr Williams and Wenvoe Environmental Limited, related to offences involving operating a waste site without an environmental permit, blending or mixing of waste before disposal, and depositing 1,843.32 tonnes of mixed and contaminated bales of textile waste, at Pen Yr Heol Las Farm, Caerphilly. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter.
Officers from NRW first visited the site in July 2019, and found a significant amount of baled waste textiles in the main yard of the farm, along with several curtain sided vehicles of similar material waiting to be unloaded.
The waste was dumped at sites at Caerphilly, Cowbridge and Dolgellau (Image: Natural Resources Wales )
Officers found the textile bales were contaminated with general waste and could not be used for the equine purposes Mr Williams claimed it was for (for example horse bedding).
Officers immediately instructed Mr Williams not to deposit any further material. However, during subsequent follow up visits, officers found more waste had been left on the site, which was deemed by the Fire and Rescue Service, to be a high fire risk.
Mr Williams was served with a legal notice requiring him to remove all of the waste to a legal site by 30 August 2019, which he failed to comply with. He also failed to comply with a request from NRW to supply information under Section 71 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Further charges against Mr Williams and Wenvoe Environmental Limited, were for offences involving the receipt and storage of 260 tonnes of contaminated textile waste at a unit on Crossways Industrial Estate in Cowbridge, where he pleaded guilty to not taking the appropriate measures applicable as a waste broker as were reasonable to prevent the contravention of another person depositing controlled waste.
Stephen Williams, from Bridgend was the sole company director for two waste removal companies, Wenvoe Environmental Limited and Servmax Limited, according to Natural Resources Wales (Image: Natural Resources Wales )
On May 1, 2019, the landowners found the unit to be full of bales of textile waste that had been deposited there illegally by Mr Williams and reported it to NRW.
A legal notice was served for the site, as well as on Mr Williams and Wenvoe Environmental Limited, instructing the removal of the waste to an authorised waste facility. Mr Williams failed to comply with the notice, leaving the freehold owners having to remove the waste themselves at a personal cost of £48,790.
Final charges against Mr Williams and his second company, Servmax Limited, related to offences for the depositing of waste at Hengwrt in Dolgellau, and operating a waste facility without an environmental permit.
NRW officers first visited the site at Hengwrt in October 2019. Similar to the sites in Caerphilly and Cowbridge, they found illegal deposits of textile waste, including clothing, carpets, underlay, foam and mattresses. Paperwork showed that 527 tonnes of waste had been deposited at the site.
Servmax Limited was served was a legal notice requiring them to remove the waste from the site, which NRW say Mr Williams failed to comply with.
On October 3, Williams was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years and was ordered to carry out five rehabilitationa activity requirement.
The defendant was also found to have benefited to the tune of £470,189 as a result of his offending, but has assets worth £322,500.
Williams was ordered to pay that amount within three months, or serve an immediate custodial sentence of three years and six months.
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