Sharpe Pritchard advises on fly-tipping prosecution that led to 52-week sentence

Law firm Sharpe Pritchard acted for the London Borough of Croydon on a trial that led to a fly-tipper being sentenced to the maximum sentence available to a magistrates’ court.

On 25 January 2017, George Smith was sentenced to a total of 52 weeks’ imprisonment over four separate fly-tipping incidents committed within the borough.

This sentence comprised 26 weeks’ custody for three offences which took place at the same location in South Croydon, and a further, consecutive sentence of 26 weeks’ custody for one offence in Thornton Heath.

Smith was also convicted for failing to hold a waste carrier’s licence, and for failing to attend an interview as required under statutory powers but received no separate penalty for these offences.

The Court did however deprive him of the two vehicles he used in the commission of these offences, which will now be sold or destroyed by Croydon.

The defendant had previously been found guilty of these offences on 4 January 2017.

The contested trial was conducted by Sharpe Pritchard Associate Solicitor Simon Kiely on behalf of the local authority.

Sentencing Smith to 52 weeks’ immediate custody, District Judge Hammond is reported to have described the offences as acts of ‘wanton vandalism’, and found them to be of the upmost seriousness.