Man sentenced for chest-high rubbish at council house

A man was handed more than £4,500 in fines and charges for waste offences this week, having left 20 stolen shopping trolleys and chest-high rubbish to fester at his council property.

Justin Dyer, aged 43, formerly of Talbot Road, in Sudbury, was sentenced at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court in Ipswich on Tuesday, March 21.

Mr Dyer, who was prosecuted by Suffolk Police and Babergh District Council in a joint action last year for animal cruelty and unlicensed breeding of dogs, was living in Talbot Road, Sudbury at the time of the offences.

In January 2021, the council started to receive complaints about household waste and abandoned shopping trolleys (pictured above) being left at the side of his property, often blocking an alleyway.

Despite communications from the council, the rubbish continued to accumulate, and a Community Protection Notice was served, requiring him to clear the waste beside his house and return the supermarket trolleys. Mr Dyer failed to act, and ignored a subsequent Fixed Penalty Notice fine issued as a result.

By January 2022 the waste was found to be at chest height and an Abatement Notice was served – with a local supermarket collecting 20 trolleys from the property.

In February Mr Dyer was arrested in relation to other offences and was interviewed by officers about the waste, for which he was unable to give a valid reason as to why he had not complied with either notice. The situation continued until March 2022.

Mr Dyer had previously entered a not guilty plea but failed to attend Tuesday’s hearing. In his absence, the court found Mr Dyer guilty of failing to comply with both the Community Protection Notice and the Abatement Notice and issued him with charges made up of £300 in fines and £4,285.87 in costs.

Mr Dyer is no longer living at the property which has since been cleaned thoroughly and re-let to new tenants.

Welcoming the result, a spokesperson for Babergh District Council said: “Mr Dyer’s behaviour was at first unpleasant for his neighbours, and then hazardous. He showed complete disregard to the notices issued to him and chose to let the situation go on, despite being given ample opportunities to resolve it.

“By working in partnership with our police colleagues at the time of Mr Dyer’s arrest we were able to co-ordinate our interviews to also progress this case, sending a clear message that this behaviour will not be tolerated. As a result Mr Dyer has ended up with a bill far in excess of what it would have cost him to clear up the waste in the first place.”