Man ordered to pay £2,600 after dumping charity shop furniture

Sofas, cupboards, mirrors, as well as packaging from the British Heart Foundation store in Stafford were found discarded in two separate locations in the town.

The items were traced back through price tags on the furniture and packaging barcodes to the charity shop in Princes Street.

It was later discovered the store had paid waste collector Neil Brookes £150 to dispose of the unwanted stock which should have been taken to an authorised waste site.

At Cannock Magistrates Court, Brookes denied depositing the waste in Beaconside and Doxey in November last year.

But he was found guilty following a trial and given fines totalling £1,320, ordered to pay £1,207 court costs and a £66 victim surcharge.

Brookes, aged 32, of Emery Street, Walsall, told the court he had sold the items on in good faith and had not been the one to dump them illegally. He also told the court he was now unemployed and was claiming benefits.

After the sentence, Stafford Borough Council's environment chief, Councillor Frank Finlay, said: "Fly-tipping is a blight on our area and those who appreciate the environment they live in do not want inconsiderate people treating the borough as a giant dustbin.

"It must have been particularly upsetting for those at the charity shop who believed the goods were being disposed of legally by a man who held an authorised waste carriers licence from the Environment Agency.

"But I hope this sends out a clear message that if you do discard your rubbish illegally then expect to be fined or prosecuted."

It comes as tougher fly-tipping sentencing guidelines were brought into force across the country.

Businesses convicted of fly-tipping can be fined up to £3 million, with individuals facing an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail prison.

In January this year, the Express & Star revealed thousands of complaints have been made to councils in the Black Country about fly-tipping.

Walsall Council is even offering £100 rewards for people who report fly-tippers leading to a successful prosecution.

In Wolverhampton, 3,162 cases were reported since April last year to January this year, while in Dudley there were 538 reports. Both figures were up on the previous year.

South Staffordshire, where there were 188 reports of fly-tipping, even launched a crackdown which saw vans stopped and searched by enforcement officers.

There were around 350 reports of fly-tipping in Stafford in 2013. Over the last five years the cost to local taxpayers of cleaning up fly-tipped waste has been put at around £140,000.