Gérard Farmer and Paul DOherty jailed for their part in ‘industrial level environmental crime’ at illegal Mobuoy dump outside Derry
Two men have been jailed for their part in what a judge described as 'a systemic pattern of established behaviour to facilitate industrial level environmental crime' in relation to illegal dumping at Mobuoy Road.
Paul Doherty (66) of Culmore Road and Gérard Farmer (58) of Westlake both had pleaded guilty to a series of waste management offences that occurred on dates between January 1, 2011 and July 4, 2013 in Doherty's case and July 1, 2007 and August 5, 2013 in Farmer's case.
The court was told that while the exact tonnage was disputed it ran to hundreds of thousands of tonnes and the value would be somewhere around £30million in 'relevant landfill charges and taxes'.
It was said much of the illegal dumping took place on land owned by Farmer and adjacent land owned by Doherty.
Judge Neil Rafferty KC said Doherty received 'financial reward largely in the form of cash payments. '
The bulk of the waste was household waste which the court heard is 'highly polluting'.
The judge said that while the remedial costs were disputed 'it is quite clear that significant public expenditure has been incurred and will continue to be incurred.'
Judge Rafferty said emails showed Farmer had 'full knowledge of what he was doing and was actively engaged in covering up the criminality at the site.'
The court heard the emails 'leave little doubt about the nature of the financial arrangement' involving Doherty.
The judge said that while there was dispute over the exact tonnage 'it is clear that the quantity of waste across both sites is very significant'.
A report on Doherty said he was 'remorseful' and denied any financial gain but Judge Rafferty rejected this.
The report on Farmer noted he believed he should have paid more attention to what was going on but again the judge said the emails contradicted that.
The court heard monitoring and remedial measures costing £6.5 million had already been undertaken.
Passing sentence Judge Rafferty said this was 'a purely economically motivated environmental crime on an industrial scale' and he sentenced Doherty to 12 months immediate custody and Farmer to 21 months
The judge concluded: "The time has long since passed where those who commit environmental crime motivated by greed can expect to walk free from the consequences of their actions."