Thirteen individuals have been convicted following an Environment Agency investigation into an illegal waste site in rural Lincolnshire, near Newark.
Aerial footage captured during the raid shows burning waste and a lorry depositing more waste at the site.
The investigation, named Operation Lord, resulted in ten defendants pleading guilty. After an eight-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court, which concluded today, three more defendants who had pleaded not guilty were also found guilty.
Environment Agency officers spent months gathering evidence of the illegal waste operations on Fen Lane, Long Bennington. In collaboration with Lincolnshire Police, they conducted a raid on the site in April 2020.
Intelligence indicated that lorry loads of shredded waste were regularly brought to the site, which is the size of a football pitch. The waste was burned and buried daily, with these activities intensifying during the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, prompting immediate action to stop it.
During the raid, officers seized an excavator and a lorry actively depositing waste at the site and made two arrests.
The prosecution targeted those running the illegal waste site, burning the waste, transporting waste to the site, and the landowners. Two waste brokers were also prosecuted.
Sentencing for all defendants will be scheduled at a later date. Photo by Celinebj, Wikimedia commons.