Former police inspector jailed over tyre-dumping scam
A former police inspector who is studying to be a lawyer was yesterday jailed for his role in an illegal tyre dumping scam.
Ex-North Wales police inspector Geraint Evans was imprisoned for one year for his role in an illegal tyre dumping scam Photo: PA
Ex-North Wales police inspector Geraint Evans was imprisoned for one year while his partner Marilyn Hanks, a former station assistant who he met while they both worked in Caernarfon, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.
Former haulage company boss Norman Cassidy was also jailed for one year for his part in the scam.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that the three were involved in the illegal dumping of 175,000 tyres and 290 tons of tyre wire at sites across England and Wales.
They each played various roles in setting up tyre recycling plants in Aberdare, south Wales; Colchester, Essex; and Manchester, before moving on and leaving others to clear up mountains of waste rubber.
The court heard they did not have a waste management licence for any of the premises, did not pay rent and made around £115,000 from their activities over one-and-a-half years.
Evans, 51, of Llanrug, Caernarfon, retired from North Wales Police in 2005 after a period of mental ill health.
But the court heard that he had been involved in the tyre industry since 1991, while he was still a serving police officer, with the force's permission.
The court was told that after leaving the force he decided to make a career out of tyre recycling, but was made bankrupt.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorised depositing and keeping of controlled waste.
Hanks, 37, also of Llanrug, pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting or conniving in offences by a corporate body.
Cassidy, 58, of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorised depositing and keeping of controlled waste.
Sentencing the three, Judge Stephen Hopkins told Evans and Cassidy they were both "thoroughly unscrupulous men" with no regard for the rules governing the businesses they operated.
"The very nature of your activities posed the potential, if not risk, of large fires and other potential environmental problems," he said.
He explained that Evans and Hanks lived together as a couple, while Cassidy met Evans through the tyre industry.
Evans and Cassidy became the directors of Adelphi Waste Ltd and Hanks was company secretary and a director, he said.
Between April and December 2005, Evans ran an unauthorised waste tyre business from Pegasus House, in Wythenshaw, Manchester.
He rented vans and employed staff to travel around the north west of England to collect waste tyres from garages and bring them back to Pegasus House.
The judge said: "They simply remained as scrap rubber inside and outside the warehouse.
"In December 2005 they abandoned Pegasus House leaving behind thousands and thousands of scrap tyres."
He said they left the owners with a £22,000 bill to clean the site up.
Evans and Hanks then negotiated a lease on a premises at Hirwaun Industrial Estate, Aberdare, on behalf of Adelphi Waste Ltd. Cassidy signed the lease.
They began depositing waste tyres at the site in March 2006 despite not officially taking over the site until the May.
In August 2006, he said, they abandoned the Aberdare site leaving the owners with a clean-up bill of up to £45,000.
In June 2006, the three had negotiated a lease for a premises in Boothstown, Manchester, and Evans permitted the dumping of 290 tons of tyre wire there.
Again the site was abandoned leaving the owners with a bill of up to £40,000.
The fourth plant was set up at Haven Road, in Colchester, by Cassidy and his company Rubber Resources Ltd, in March 2006.
Once again, the site was abandoned, employees were not paid and the owners were left with a clean-up bill of over £28,000.
In respect of each site they avoided licensing costs of over £7,000.
The judge told Evans and Cassidy their offending was deliberate, and said that while Hanks may not have been aware at the start she did later on.
He said they committed the offences purely for profit and to undercut other legitimate businesses.
Evans was banned from being the director of a business for seven years, Cassidy for five years and Hanks for three years.
But the court heard that he had been involved in the tyre industry since 1991, while he was still a serving police officer, with the force's permission.
The court was told that after leaving the force he decided to make a career out of tyre recycling, but was made bankrupt.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorised depositing and keeping of controlled waste.
Hanks, 37, also of Llanrug, pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting or conniving in offences by a corporate body.
Cassidy, 58, of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, pleaded guilty to four counts of unauthorised depositing and keeping of controlled waste.
Sentencing the three, Judge Stephen Hopkins told Evans and Cassidy they were both "thoroughly unscrupulous men" with no regard for the rules governing the businesses they operated.
"The very nature of your activities posed the potential, if not risk, of large fires and other potential environmental problems," he said.
He explained that Evans and Hanks lived together as a couple, while Cassidy met Evans through the tyre industry.
Evans and Cassidy became the directors of Adelphi Waste Ltd and Hanks was company secretary and a director, he said.
Between April and December 2005, Evans ran an unauthorised waste tyre business from Pegasus House, in Wythenshaw, Manchester.
He rented vans and employed staff to travel around the north west of England to collect waste tyres from garages and bring them back to Pegasus House.
The judge said: "They simply remained as scrap rubber inside and outside the warehouse.
"In December 2005 they abandoned Pegasus House leaving behind thousands and thousands of scrap tyres."
He said they left the owners with a £22,000 bill to clean the site up.
Evans and Hanks then negotiated a lease on a premises at Hirwaun Industrial Estate, Aberdare, on behalf of Adelphi Waste Ltd. Cassidy signed the lease.
They began depositing waste tyres at the site in March 2006 despite not officially taking over the site until the May.
In August 2006, he said, they abandoned the Aberdare site leaving the owners with a clean-up bill of up to £45,000.
In June 2006, the three had negotiated a lease for a premises in Boothstown, Manchester, and Evans permitted the dumping of 290 tons of tyre wire there.
Again the site was abandoned leaving the owners with a bill of up to £40,000.
The fourth plant was set up at Haven Road, in Colchester, by Cassidy and his company Rubber Resources Ltd, in March 2006.
Once again, the site was abandoned, employees were not paid and the owners were left with a clean-up bill of over £28,000.
In respect of each site they avoided licensing costs of over £7,000.
The judge told Evans and Cassidy their offending was deliberate, and said that while Hanks may not have been aware at the start she did later on.
He said they committed the offences purely for profit and to undercut other legitimate businesses.
Evans was banned from being the director of a business for seven years, Cassidy for five years and Hanks for three years.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5126953/Former-police-inspector-jailed-over-tyre-dumping-scam.html
