Jail for Cowgate’s midnight cowboys
Nov 10 2007 by Chloe Griffiths, The Journal
TWO rogue rag and bone men blighted North-East beauty spots with tons of waste after being paid to recycle it.
John McLaughlin and Ian Dixon dumped a fridge freezer, building materials and scrap metal at scenic areas around the region, including on the Northumberland coast.
Newcastle Crown Court yesterday heard the pair earned up to £4,000 a month collecting the bulky rubbish from unsuspecting householders.
They posed as a legitimate waste disposal outfit, advertising in newspapers and in the Yellow Pages under the names Clean It All, Keep It Clean, No Skip Needed and AA Wasteaway.
But the whole time they were dumping the dangerous and hazardous trash in streets, parks and beaches all over the region – often under the cover of darkness.
Yesterday McLaughlin, of Ponteland Road in Cowgate, Newcastle, was jailed for 21 months.
The court heard the 33-year-old had charged families up to £300 a time to fill his lorries with waste, often claiming it would be recycled. He even sifted through the loads for valuable scrap metal.
His accomplice, Dixon, of Whitehorn Crescent, also in Cowgate, was locked up for nine months.
Sentencing them, Judge Guy Whitburn QC said: “You have been convicted of a serious crime. The cost of clearing up fly-tipping falls on the council, stretching their resources to the limit.
“We all have to pay and the public inevitably foots the bill for cleaning up the landscape.
“To fail to punish you severely would damage others who operate legitimate businesses within the law.”
Investigators estimate the pair, dubbed the “Cowgate cowboys” made more than 200 waste collections, while 16 fly-tipping incidents were looked into.
Initially they operated at night, but as they continued in their illegitimate trade, they began dumping in broad daylight at a string of locations.
On three occasions they emptied large loads at Tyneside Riverside Park in Newburn, just yards from a nature reserve.
An investigation revealed they also used a former caravan park in Cresswell on the Northumberland Coast, as well as Walker Riverside Country Park.
Roads were regularly blocked by their deposits.
Newcastle City Council street enforcement and environmental crime team manager Roy Harris said: “These men posed as a legitimate waste clearance company, but their customers were conned and the taxpayers and landowners were left to pick up the bill.”
McLaughlin was arrested and charged with the fly-tipping offences in January, but carried on committing more offences throughout February. During the eight-month council investigation, it emerged the pair shared the driving, despite the fact McLaughlin was banned.
He admitted two counts of depositing controlled waste and one of conspiracy to deposit it.
Dixon pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to deposit controlled waste.
The pair were due to be sentenced last week, but the hearing was adjourned after heroin addict McLaughlin was taken to hospital suffering from withdrawal symptoms from methadone.
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