Marcus Bairstow jailed after dumping waste across Hampshire

Not even a court order could stop Marcus Bairstow from illegally disposing of rubbish in what was described as a "flagrant breach of the law."

The 41-year-old from Southampton had already already been jailed following a major multi-agency investigation into the dumping of waste in the county in 2011.

He was convicted on numerous counts and given a prison sentence along with a five-year Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), banning him from a variety of waste activities.

But the law once again caught up with Bairstow four years later when a fire he started on a site he was using as an illegal dump spread out of control.

The blaze at Park Farm in Eastleigh took hold of a nearby tree and part of a neighbouring properly prompting the emergency services to be called in.

Southampton Crown Court heard how officers attended the site in July 2015 where they found the area being used as a waste disposal area.

Bairstow had been renting the plot just off Stoneham Lane for two months.

According to Environment Agency officers Bairstow operated by offering to dispose of waste for businesses in the area before taking it to the site where he would sort through it, removing all valuable materials and burning what was left.

Southampton Crown Court was told that when the emergency services were called to the site in July, Bairstow attended and admitted his responsibility and that he had insurance.

It was then that the Environmental Agency along with Southampton City and Test Valley councils launched a joint investigation which built up the case against Bairstow and how he had been operating the site for months without a licence along with flytipping at various sites.

The court was also shown footage taken from CCTV cameras at the Talking Heads pub in Portswood Southampton in February 2015 which shows a man identified as Bairstow driving onto the land behind the venue and dumping waste out the back of his truck before driving off.

Bairstow was arrested in September last year for the catalogue of offences. The investigation also discovered that in January 2015, a developer had waste on site at Padwell Road in Southampton which was collected by Bairstow.

Subsequently a farmer found that entry to his land near Rownhams had been forced, and that waste had been dumped there.

Bairstow gave no plea relating to those changes which were ordered to lie on the court file.

Environment Agency area manager Mike O'Neill said: "We were able to build up a picture of someone who was an habitual waste criminal with no regard for other people, the environment or the law."

Bairstow, of Chelveston Crescent, Southampton pleaded guilty to illegally depositing waste without a permit, three counts under Environment permitting regulations in depositing, keeping and treatment of waste without a permit and thereby breaching the ASBo imposed in 2011.

In court Bairstow claimed he had been threatened by others to give them money and as the waste industry was the only trade known to him, he began the operation to earn some money.

Bairstow was sentenced to 30 weeks imprisonment and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £150.

The judge, Miss Recorder Bussey-Jones, said Bairstow committed deliberate acts which were carried out for financial gain and were a flagrant breach of his court order.

Nigel Oliver of the Environment Agency said: “We are constantly gathering information on illegal waste sites, criminal activities and environmental crime in Hampshire and across the country as a whole.

Together with our partners we are taking a zero tolerance approach against waste offenders.

“In cases like this where individuals such as Mr Bairstow consistently operate illegally, we have absolutely no hesitation in prosecuting them.

“Bairstow was clearly aware of his obligations and responsibilities in the handling and treatment of waste but yet again wilfully ignored them, putting the local environment at repeated risk.

"I hope today’s ruling serves as a deterrent to any individual or company in showing that waste crime does not pay.”

PICTURED: Dumped rubbish at Park Farm

It is not the first time Bairstow will spend time behind bars for flytipping. The Daily reported in 2011 how he was handed a 33-month jail term after being dubbed “Britain’s worst fly-tipper” has lost an appeal against his prison sentence.

The court heard details of how for 18 months Bairstow dumped truckloads of unsightly and toxic mess, blighting roads and even graves.

His sentence was believed to be the most severe punishment ever handed for the offence.

Bairstow was caught on CCTV and spotted by witnesses making money by illegally offloading other people’s rubbish.

He dumped huge amounts of rubble and rubbish at a cemetery behind Holy Trinity Church in Millbrook.

Bairstow was also featured on the by the BBC’s Rogue Traders programme which bugged and tracked waste and filmed Bairstow dumping it.