CCTV helped catch three flytippers dumping rubbish on two separate occasions at the same spot.

Durham County Council’s covert cameras caught Ashley Lodge and Martin Corrigan, and in a separate case, Craig Mitchell, in the act at Warren House Gill in Horden – a flytipping hotspot.

Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard how Lodge, 24, and Corrigan, 23, both of Edenvale Estate, Horden, were spotted at the scene by neighbourhood wardens in July 2015.

The wardens noticed that two large bags of rubbish containing carpet cut offs and a cardboard box had been dumped there.

CCTV at the site shows both of them throwing the waste from a car.

Both Corrigan and Lodge pleaded guilty to flytipping and were each handed a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £408 in costs and court charges.

In mitigation, they both said they were sorry for what they had done.

In a separate hearing Craig Mitchell, 32, care of Gloucester Place, Peterlee, also admitted flytipping.

A CCTV camera captured a car pulling up and a man emptying bags of soil from the boot onto the ground, the court was told.

Magistrates handed Mitchell a six-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £538 in costs and court charges.

In mitigation, Mitchell said he had gone back to the spot where he dumped the soil and removed it.

Household waste can be taken to the nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) – visit www.durham.gov.uk/HWRC - and to arrange a bulky waste collection call 03000 261 000. For more information about flytipping visit www.durham.gov.uk/flytipping