Man caught on camera fly-tipping his old dishwasher at beauty spot
Flytipper pleads guilty to dumping rubbish illegally eight times
A SMIRKING litter lout was fined after he was caught on camera dumping his dishwasher at a natural beauty spot.
Cheeky Richard Weston, from Woodville, Derbyshire, must fork out £1,200 after town hall bosses snapped him flytipping the machine - with a great big smile plastered across his face.
The 38-year-old was caught red-handed after South Derbyshire District Council installed six high-tech movement activated cameras which captured images of him as he threw the scrap metal away down a pretty country lane.
Appearing at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court, Weston admitted depositing controlled waste without an environmental permit, in breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
He told investigators he had dumped unwanted material in a country lane in Caldwell, Derbyshire, and assuming it would be picked up by local scrap dealers.
Weston was fined £215 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs, as well as a victim surcharge of £21 – a total of £1,236.
Matt Holford, the council's environmental health manager, said: "My first reaction was part shock and hilarity.
"It was fairly damning evidence. We only have evidence of him doing it twice but he has admitted to eight incidents.
"We're very pleased he admitted it at the first opportunity and I think the punishment he got was fair. In the past we have been a little unhappy with some of the sentences handed out.
"We feel this will send out a strong message that it will not be tolerated.
"The cameras are camouflaged where nobody can see them. This latest incident was in a secluded country lane.
"As soon as we are aware of an area which sees repeat offending we get the camera out there."
According to the authority Weston's case was the fourth successful conviction for waste offences in the district in the last six months.