A MAN who made hundreds of thousands of pounds by allowing deadly asbestos to be dumped on his land on an ‘industrial scale’, has been jailed.
Christopher Garrett allowed 12,000 tonnes of waste material, including asbestos, to be dumped on land next to his home in Kingsteignton which is on a floodplain.
Garrett is thought to be the worst offender the Environment Agency has seen in Devon and Cornwall for the quantity of asbestos he illegally disposed.
The 64-year-old had a previous conviction for similar offending on the same land and began his illegal operation again in breach of a suspended jail term even though a judge told him: ‘It must stop.’
Exeter Crown Court heard the cost to remediate the toxic land would be £2.5 million but there are no funds to do the work and it will have to remain in its contaminated state.
Garrett, of Lindridge Hill, admitted treating controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health between July 2018 and May 2022, and a second count of permitting activity in contravention of an environmental permit.
He was jailed for 32 months and faces a £200,000 confiscation order when his home next to the affected area is sold.
The court heard the benefit figure of his offending was £2,888,548 which includes the remediation costs.
Judge James Adkin said: ‘You were unable to resist the lure of significant sums of money to discharge the waste on the land. You did not care about the environment.’
He said it was ‘industrial scale environmental contamination by an individual’.
The prosecution said the contaminated land is toxic and has no value.
The court heard Garrett has a previous conviction from 2016 for illegal waste on the same land. He was then given a suspended jail term with the judge warning him very clearly not to reoffend - or go to jail.
But the court heard he allowed huge quantities of waste to be illegally deposited on the site and even deliberately tried to cover it up using heavy machinery.
He was sent repeated warnings from the Environment Agency and was aggressive to enforcement staff which landed him in court.
Holes drilled on the site showed different types of asbestos buried on the land, some of it the most harmful kind, as he was paid cash by those dumping controlled waste to avoid more costly and legal ways of disposing of the deadly material as well as construction and demolition waste.
There were 1,500 vehicle loads dumped at the site with the waste 1.2 metres deep and taking up 10,000 cubic metres.
Judge Adkin told Garrett: ‘You were unable to resist the lure of significant sums of money.’
An EA spokesperson said: ‘Garrett is a repeat offender who showed no care for the environment or human health. He took no notice of the previous warnings and imported hazardous waste, burying it to make a quick profit.
'We are extremely pleased he has now been brought to book.’