A TRIAL date has been set for two defendants in a case linked to a massive fire at a North East plastics recycling plant which led to nearby residents being told to stay inside and close windows and doors.

Laura Hepburn and Jonathan Guy Brudenell have yet to plead to charges brought by the Environment Agency, which resulted from an investigation into a blaze at the Greenology plant in Liverton Mines, east Cleveland, in April 2020.

A preliminary trial date was set at Teesside Crown Court of February 6 next year by Judge Jonathan Carroll which could last up to ten days.

But Lee Fish, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, said there had been preliminary discussions and it was the “collective view of the parties that this is a case capable of resolution”.

Read more: Large rubbish blaze one of three keeping town's firefighters busy in same night

It was agreed a further hearing would take place on March 4, allowing further legal discussions to take place in the meantime.

Hepburn, 42, an award winning business woman from Sandsend, North Yorkshire, is accused of two charges of breaching environmental permits and two charges of keeping controlled waste likely to contribute to pollution or harm human health in 2019 and 2020.

Her fellow defendant, 51-year-old Jonathan Guy Brudenell, also of Sandsend, is charged with three offences connected to the use of environmental permits during 2018 and 2019 and one charge of keeping controlled waste likely to contribute to pollution or harm human health in 2019.

He is also facing two charges of taking part in the formation, control or management of a company while under the subject of bankruptcy restrictions in 2018 and 2019.

Another man, Peter Waldron, of Hinton, Northallerton, a director of Selective Environmental Solutions Ltd, has already admitted a charge of breaching the terms of an environmental permit at the former Greenology plant in Lantsbury Drive, between January and February 2019.

Greenology and Selective Environmental Solutions Ltd are also facing related charges over alleged permit breaches.

Andrew Thomas, for Hepburn, said Greenology had changed its name to LM South Yorkshire Limited with the judge asking for a copy of the Companies House documentation to be provided to the court confirming the change.

Judge Carroll renewed the bail of all three defendants in adjourning the case.

Flames from the April 2020 fire could be seen across Teesside and North Yorkshire and caused huge plumes of thick black smoke to billow into the sky.

Protests were held at the site by Liverton Mines villagers who said it should be closed permanently with Greenology later stating it would no longer run any of its operations from there.

 

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