News-Failing to assist flytipping investigation costs man more than £1,500

Byron Cant-Raine was successfully prosecuted by us after failing to attend an interview in relation to a flytip at Brancepeth.

Ian Hoult, our neighbourhood protection manager, said: "We take great pride in the appearance of our county and therefore take a very dim view of any flytipping. As well as being an eyesore, illegally dumped waste can damage the environment and is a drain on our resources.

"Wherever flytips are reported to us we investigate and look to take action against the perpetrators.

"To do this we need people to co-operate with our investigations and in this case Mr Cant-Raine failed to attend an interview which made it harder for us to progress our enquiries.

"He now finds himself more than £1,500 worse off and with a criminal conviction and we hope this sentence acts as a warning to anyone thinking it is optional to help us in our enquiries into flytipping."

Cant-Raine, 31, of Jubilee Terrace, Willington, pleaded not guilty to the charge and appeared before Peterlee magistrates for trial.

The court was told that one of our neighbourhood wardens discovered flytipped waste at the side of Sandy Lonnen, a C road, in September 2023.

The warden checked footage from a CCTV camera in the area to see if it showed how the waste came to be there.

Magistrates heard the footage showed a vehicle registered to Cant-Raine, resulting in him being invited to interview.

However the court was told he failed to attend on this or "multiple" other occasions.

In Cant-Raine's defence, magistrates heard he had sold the vehicle visible in the footage, although he had not provided a relevant document to the new owner. Furthermore, he claimed his registration plates had been cloned.

The defendant also said he was working away at the time of all the interviews scheduled and was under the assumption that his attendance was voluntary.

The court found him guilty and imposed a fine of £275, costs of £1,163.60 and a victim surcharge of £110 - a total of £1,547.60.