A COUPLE responsible for rubbish fires which sent noxious smoke across large areas of North Yorkshire have been sentenced for waste offences.

The Environment Agency tried for two years to get Stewart and Janice Wagstaff to make their massive waste heap safe and obey waste regulations Leeds crown Court was told.

But the couple didn't comply and continued to add to the heap at Great Heck, near Selby, until it caught fire several times in 2015 sending noxious smoke and fumes across houses and a motorway.

Stewart Wagstaff, 58 was sentenced to four-months in prison suspended for 18 months on condition he does 160 hours’ unpaid work. Janice Evelyn Wagstaff, 56, was ordered to do 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Both admitted keeping rubbish in a manner likely to cause harm up to July 2015 when their company Total Waste Management went into liquidation.

The Environment Agency had to get special funding for the operation to clear the site which took several weeks.