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  "path": "/news/fly-tipper-ordered-pay-dumping-four-tonnes-waste-britain",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-20T07:35:19.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Indian man raped woman after luring her to hotel - and police fear he targeted 100 others",
    "Nine people injured in London’s SECOND major bus crash over past 24 hours",
    "Man, 60, charged after elderly woman's body found in freezer in seaside town",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA serial fly-tipper has been ordered to pay more than £1.4million after illegally dumping more than 4,000 tonnes of waste across England.\n\nVarun Datta, 36, was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, February 13, following a major investigation by the Environment Agency (EA).\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe EA investigation uncovered a network of 16 illegal dumping sites, including a manor house in Surrey, a farm in Lincolnshire and a warehouse in Kent.\n\nThe total weight of the waste dumped climbed to an astonishing 4,275 tonnes - roughly equivalent to the weight of 600 African elephants.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDatta, of Little Chester Street, London, must pay £1,116,432.78 under a Confiscation Order, £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs.\n\nHe also received a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, 30 days of rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.\n\nThe court heard Datta became a registered waste broker through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, in 2015.\n\nJudge Paul Farrar KC, who described the crime as \"reckless\", said he falsely claimed waste was being sent to a permitted site near Sheffield; instead, it was being diverted to unlicensed dumps across the country.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality,\" Mr Farrar said.\n\nLandowners were \"forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste\", he added.\n\nIn 2018, the EA seized £131,520 in cash from Datta's home address.\n\nAfter pleading not guilty in 2023, he changed his plea to guilty in June last year.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Indian man raped woman after luring her to hotel - and police fear he targeted 100 others\n  * Nine people injured in London’s SECOND major bus crash over past 24 hours\n  * Man, 60, charged after elderly woman's body found in freezer in seaside town\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDatta's case involved the prosecution of two other men; Mohammed Saraji Bashir, from Peterborough, who was also given a four-month suspended prison sentence, unpaid work and period of rehabilitation, and Robert McAllister, from north London, who was fined £750.\n\nIt is alleged that an associate, Sandeep Golechha, 55, of Wheatley Close, London, helped to falsify weighbridge documents to cover up the illegal acts.\n\nThe EA said warrants for the arrest of two other men are still active.\n\nEmma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager in the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit described the case as \"appalling\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"Despite their attempts to conceal their criminality, our in-depth investigation spanning the length and breadth of the country ultimately uncovered those responsible,\" she said.\n\n\"We will never stop fighting to end the scourge of waste crime which scars our environment and communities.\"\n\nThe £100,000 in compensation Datta has been ordered to pay relates to a dumping at a former Mills Factory in Middlesbrough, as well as the Middleton Nature Reserve in Lancashire.\n\nMiddlesborough Council will receive £70,000 towards the cost of the clean-up, while £30,000 will be awarded to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the future management of the Middleton Nature Reserve.\n\nEnvironment 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.\n\n\"I welcome the punishments secured by the Environment Agency - which send a clear message to criminals that they have nowhere to hide.\n\n\"This 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.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter **",
  "title": "Serial fly-tipper ordered to pay £1.4m after dumping over 4,000 tonnes of waste across Britain"
}