Illegal dumper gets suspended sentence

Pensioner Hugh Corey also escaped being fined for the blot on the landscape at his Tullyrush Road home in the Hannahstown area of the Black Mountain.

Her honour Judge McCaffrey said that in light of Corey being fined and ordered to pay costs of over £4,500 earlier this year for operating a dump site without a licence, it was not appropriate to impose further monetary penalties.

The Belfast Crown Court judge said she wanted to make it clear that such offending was serious, given the potential damage to the environment which may prove difficult, if not impossible to repair.

However, Judge McCaffrey added while the custody threshold was passed, given Corey’s age and health, she was prepared to suspend his eight-month sentence for two years.

Northern Ireland Environment Agency inspectors first visited the site in August 2011 and found a whole raft of materials including both domestic and commerical waste and a number of skips.