A husband and wife have been sentenced for running illegal waste sites in Yorkshire following an investigation by the Environment Agency.
Stuart Bedford, 62, formerly of Harrogate, received a 12-month prison sentence for operating waste sites in Bradford and Doncaster without the necessary environmental permits and for keeping waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution or harm to human health.
Vicky Bedford, 51, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and 15 days of rehabilitation activity for her involvement in the illegal operations. Both activities caused significant disruption to local communities and posed environmental risks.
In November 2020, a fire broke out at one of the sites on Spring Mill Street in Bradford, where over 600,000 tyres were stored. The blaze caused major travel disruptions, led to the closure of local schools and businesses, and affected over 14,300 students. Nearly 100 firefighters were needed to control the fire at its peak.
Before the fire, in October 2020, Environment Agency officers had served an enforcement notice to clear the tyres from the Bradford site.
The Bedfords were arrested in Spain after international arrest warrants were issued and subsequently extradited to the UK.
During sentencing at Bradford Crown Court on June 25, 2024, Judge HHJ Gibson stated:
"Stuart Bedford, there is no doubt in my mind that you deliberately breached the law. You were experienced in the storage and disposal of tyres. You knew from an early stage that the number of tyres you stored on the site was vastly more than you would have been legitimately able to store under an exemption issued for that site... As far as the fire itself is concerned, you were reckless in the standard meaning of that word. You went ahead and stored the tyres anyway regardless of the risk. You were being paid to take these tyres and valued the tyres at the Bradford site at £1 million."
Stuart Bedford was sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison, while Vicky Bedford received a 12-month community order and 15 days of rehabilitation activity.