Ex-skip hire owner is behind bars for dumping illegal waste

Ex-skip hire owner is behind bars for dumping illegal waste

25 November 2015

A BALLYNAHINCH businessman has been jailed for nine months for dumping thousands of tonnes of illegal waste, including toxic asbestos, on his land.

Thirty four year-old John Paul Branniff, of Carnreagh Road, was also ordered to spend nine months on probation following his release from jail after admitting treating controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment and to human health.

The former skip hire owner, who was described in court as “uncooperative”, also admitted unlawfully dumping controlled waste and keeping controlled waste on his land. 

Inspectors investigating the offences, over a 10-month period between October 2011 and August the following year, reported that the defendant ignored warnings to stop keeping waste on his land.

During visits to his site, they discovered several fires, which were described as filling the air with an “acrid smell.” 

Waste material found included asbestos, tyres, plastics, building material and rubble and a test showed that sulphate levels in the underground water table were almost one-and-a-half-times above normal standards for drinking water.

It has been estimated that it will cost the public purse around £250,000 to clear Branniff’s land, while Branniff is understood to have avoided over £150,000 of taxes through his illegal practice.

During his sentencing at Downpatrick Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Sam Magee said Branniff had demonstrated “little or no” insight into the impact of his offending on people or the environment.

He said the large quantity of illegal waste, which should have incurred a landfill tax charge of over £150,000, and the way in which Branniff continued to dump material on his land despite ongoing investigations by the authorities, were aggravating features in the case.

“He paid no attention to notices,” said Mr Magee. “Some of the material is quite clearly toxic, including asbestos.

“Nobody takes material like this onto their site without material benefits.”

The court was told that Braniff told Northern Ireland Environment Agency officials that “he didn’t care if there were court cases and he would not removing the waste within 30 days.”

“This has a £240,000 cost to the Exchequer. Throughout all these proceedings the defendant has been obstructive in the way in which he approached these hearings,” said Mr Magee.

“It is something courts take into account when someone is compliant and assistant, but that is not in this case.

“He could not be trusted. You could not rely on a single word he said whatsoever.”

However, defence barrister Alan Blackburn, described Branniff as a “hardworking man with a young family” who had created employment in the Ballynahinch area.

He said Branniff’s offences were “reckless” rather than deliberate.

However, Judge Piers Grant accused the defendant of “obfuscation and obstruction” and pointed out that Branniff, who has 31 previous convictions, had sworn an affidavit overseen by Northern Ireland Environment Agency officials declaring that he only had one bank account. 

A second bank account was later uncovered and the court heard that Branniff had made unexplained withdrawals of £60,000 from this account around the time of the affidavit.

“He failed to disclose the existence of this bank account. It was no slip of the mind,” said Judge Grant.

“It was clearly an attempt to mislead the court and he was deliberately trying to hide his assets.”

Judge Grant ordered Branniff to repay £108,350, which includes money from the sale of a property valued at £46,350 that has been signed over to a family member but must be sold because it is considered a “tainted gift.”

He ordered Branniff to take immediate action to liquidate his assets from behind bars and said he had just three months to do so.