Skip hire boss ordered to pay nearly £1m under POCA

The boss of a skip hire business has been ordered to pay almost £1m under the Proceeds of Crime Act if he comes into future assets.

Raymond Shepherd, 61 of Rookhope in County Durham, was jailed for 18 months and disqualified from being a company director for ten years when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court for sentence on 12 December, 2013.

Shepherd had been convicted following two separate trials of operating a waste facility without a permit, depositing waste without a permit and failing to comply with a suspension notice.

Following a four-day a hearing last week at Teesside Crown Court he was given a confiscation order to pay back £14,000 of available assets. Shepherd could face up to six months in prison if he fails to pay.

Should he come into future assets he will have to pay back more of the £980,207 agreed benefit sum.

The defendant had contested the application, arguing that the activities at the sites were carried out lawfully.

The POCA hearing is latest development in a large-scale investigation by the Environment Agency, called Operation Bachelor, which started in 2008.

This also resulted in two other men receiving suspended prison sentences and Albert Hill Skip Hire Ltd being fined £100,000.

A previous POCA hearing in August 2015 in relation to the same investigation saw Shepherd’s son, Tony Shepherd, 41, of Winston, Darlington, ordered to pay back £350,000. He was subsequently jailed for three years in May 2016 for failing to pay the sum. He still has to pay back the money, and potentially up to £1.2m if he comes into future assets.

Oliver Harmar, Area Director for the Environment Agency in the North East, said: “This is a debt that will follow Raymond Shepherd around for the rest of his life. It sends out a message to the industry that waste crime does not pay and not only will we hit people with court action but we’ll then hit them in the pocket.

“Shepherd’s illegal waste operations were carried out in the interests of profit, unfortunately at the expense of the environment. Not to mention by not complying with regulations, he undermined legitimate businesses.

“And the impact on the community must not be overlooked, including two major fires which took place at Dodsworth Street. The site is now cleared of waste.”

The Environment Agency worked closely with other organisations including Durham County Council, Darlington Borough Council, Durham Police, Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive during the investigation.