A MAN who was caught on camera fly-tipping at a national nature reserve has been ordered to pay hundreds of pounds and carry out unpaid work.

Alan Christopher Shilling, 26 of Hazel Crescent, Easington Colliery, pleaded guilty at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court to depositing controlled waste otherwise than in accordance with an environmental permit, and also transporting it without being a registered carrier.

The court was told how a Durham County Council warden discovered the incident when he visited Limekiln Gill at Horden, to check for fly-tipping in September last year.

As well as being a national nature reserve, the site is part of the Durham Coastal Special Area of Conservation but has been regularly hit by illegal dumping of waste due to its isolated location.

The warden discovered household waste including remnants of carpet had been dumped and checked the footage of a CCTV camera left at the scene to capture video evidence of any fly-tipping.

This showed a van parking and two men getting out and dumping the waste.

Checks were carried out which showed Shilling was insured to drive the vehicle and gave his home address.

The defendant was contacted and subsequently interviewed. He was reluctant to provide details of the second man so was served with a legal notice compelling him to do so.

While the notice was complied with, the details provided did not lead the council to the second man.

Shilling confirmed the waste had come from a yard clearance.

He told the court had been out of work at the time of the offence and had received a message from a friend on Facebook asking if he wanted to help move the waste.

Shilling acknowledged his actions had been wrong.

Magistrates imposed a 12 month community order with 40 hours unpaid work.

Shilling was ordered to pay costs to the council of £429.88.

After the case, Ian Hoult, the council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: “The vast majority of people do get rid of their waste responsibly at one of our household waste recycling centres or by arranging for us to come and remove their bulky waste for a small fee.

“However there are a minority who tarnish our beautiful county by fly-tipping including Mr Shilling who did so at a protected nature and conservation site.

“We hope this prosecution shows we will take the strongest possible action to protect our environment and that the sentence imposed will act as a deterrent to this defendant and anyone else who might think fly-tipping is an easy way to dispose of waste.”

For information on how to dispose of waste, visit www.durham.gov.uk/recycling