Recycling fire director to repay £45,000 over pollution

The director of a fridge recycling firm on the Shropshire/Mid Wales border has been ordered to repay £45,000 after being found guilty of causing pollution to the environment and risking harm to health.

Shrewsbury Crown Court made a confiscation order on Friday under the Proceeds of Crime Act against Robert Sant, of Ludlow Road in Knighton, to reclaim money he made through illegal activities.

Last August he was found guilty of four counts of breaching a condition of a waste management licence while director of Bromfield Industrial Services between 2005, and 2007.

The prosecution had claimed he allowed harmful chemicals, including CFCs and HCFCs, into the environment, but Sant was acquitted of one further count of the same charge.

Sant was also found guilty of treating, keeping, or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health between the same dates.

John Bateman, senior environment officer at the Environment Agency, said today: "I am delighted that the courts have made this order against Mr Sant.

"He made financial gain at a cost to the environment.

"This order shows how seriously we and the courts take this kind of criminal activity."

Last May, Sant received a 12-month suspended sentence and was ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work in a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.