Custodial sentences handed down to two directors over illegal dumping in Northern Ireland

More than a million tonnes of waste was illegally dumped at the Mobuoy site, which housed waste management company City Industrial Waste (CIW) Ltd and Campsie Sand and Gravel (CSG) Ltd before it was shut down in 2013. The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) has already spent more than £4 million managing the risk to public health from the contamination, which is thought to be one of the worst examples of illegal dumping in Europe.

On 6 June, a Crown Court in Northern Ireland sentenced two company directors. The first, Paul Doherty, a director of CSG, who previously pleaded guilty to seven waste offences between 2007 and 2013, was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Gerry Farmer, a director of CIW, who had previously pleaded guilty to three waste offences between 2011 and 2013, was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

On sentencing the two defendants, Judge Rafferty KC told the court: “The time has long passed where those who commit environmental crime motivated by greed can expect to walk free from the consequences of their actions.”

Parallel to the criminal investigation, in a statement, Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said that the sentencing of waste management company CIW, which also pleaded guilty to three offences in November, has been deferred to a later date as part of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022 process.

The contaminated Mobuoy dump is located along the banks of the River Faughan, which supplies a significant proportion of the local area’s water supply. DAERA says it has detected “no adverse impact on the safety of drinking water supplied from the river” to date.

Laura Gillespie, a regulatory and compliance specialist at Pinsent Masons, said the sentencing highlighted the risks of both personal and corporate criminal liability in environmental cases of this kind. “What is notable about this case is the scale and extent of the contamination, which has been a focus of substantial public interest for some time,” she said. “The remediation costs are noted to be very significant. It is clear that there has been a clear strategic priority of pursuing those responsible for the contamination, both in a corporate capacity, but also through pursuing directors personally. The sentencing serves as a reminder of not only the environmental impact of waste, but the potential criminal consequences arising.”

Following the sentencing, Northern Ireland ‘s environment minister Andrew Muir said there are plans for a public consultation on the draft remediation strategy for the site. DAERA has already estimated the cost of remediating the site as between £17 million and £700 million. Muir has also reiterated calls for a public inquiry into illegal waste disposal at Mobuoy. Although the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion in March 2014 to launch a public inquiry into what happened at the site, there has been a lack of political consensus to date to put the inquiry into motion.

Phil Newton, specialist in environmental regulatory disputes at Pinsent Masons, said the case should also underline the importance of having robust compliance systems in place to mitigate corporate liability in the event of an incident. “The challenge for business is to distinguish non-compliance that may be characterised as negligent or even reckless under the sentencing guidelines from this kind of deliberate and intentional criminal behaviour,” he said. “The environment agencies across the UK’s jurisdictions are increasingly well-resourced to prosecute environmental crime and building early, positive relationships with regulators as part of everyday regulated and permitted activities will be critical in getting the tone right when incidents do occur.”