A £235K confiscation order for illegal waste site has been handed out to a Comber businessman in Laganside Crown Court.
A DAERA spokesperson said that a confiscation order totaling £235,460.39 has been granted by Laganside Crown Court, Belfast on 15 February 2021 against Mr. William Robert Thompson Morrow (69) of 6 Tullynakill Road Ballydrain Road Comber, BT23 6EJ, for keeping and treating controlled waste without a licence and contrary to the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.
The confiscation order granted equates to the criminal benefit generated by Mr. William Robert Thompson Morrow from the illegal disposal of controlled waste at a site adjacent to 102 Ballydrain Road Comber.
In 2015 and 2016 officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) investigated the site owned by and under the control of William Robert Thompson Morrow.
At the site officers observed a large in-fill area consisting of clay, tarmac, brick, concrete blocks, slabs, tiles, slates ceramic pipes, plastic wrapping and glass. The site did not have a waste management licence nor did it have planning approval.
Mr. Morrow pleaded guilty on 17 April 2018 to the charges of depositing, keeping and treating controlled waste contrary to the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.
Mr. Morrow was given 3 months to pay the confiscation order with a default term set at two years imprisonment in the event of non-payment.
