A North Yorkshire farmer who allowed thousands of tonnes of plastic, metal, electrical items and aerosols to be dumped on his land has been given a suspended jail sentence.
Hayden Fortune, 50, who previously pleaded guilty to operating an illegal tip, has been ordered to clear the waste from Pyethornes Farm, Wigglesworth, Skipton, within two years.
The alarm was raised over the tip in May 2024 and when officers from the Environment Agency attended they found the smelly site had large amounts of shredded plastic, metals, electrical items and aerosols, dumped.
Follow up visits revealed evidence – including excavators working on site – of the waste being buried.
Despite formal warnings and a statutory notice requiring the waste to be removed, the dumping continued for over a year.
In February, the Environment Agency secured a court order to prevent access to the site.
He was sentenced at York Magistrates to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and was fined £2,500 for breaching an unrelated suspended prison sentence.
He will also carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activity, pay costs of £10,000 and a victim surcharge of £187.
If he fails to clear the site within two years he will be brought back before the courts.
Ben Hocking, Area Environment Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Fortune’s deliberate offending showed a total disregard for the law, the environment, and the community where he lives.
“He repeatedly ignored warnings and notices issued by our officers, who have worked incredibly hard to take quick and decisive action against him.”
Fortune’s breach of the suspended prison sentence related to an unrelated Trading Standards prosecution. He was sentenced in April 2023 to a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months for animal welfare offences. He also received a lifetime ban from keeping animals.
In the March 26 hearing, the court determined that it was inappropriate for the suspended sentence to be activated due to the impact that his going to custody would have on dependents.
