A prolific waste criminal has been ordered to pay more than £1.4 million after illegally dumping thousands of tonnes of rubbish — including at multiple sites in Grantham.
Following a nationwide investigation by the Environment Agency, Varun Datta, 36, of Little Chester Street, London, was found to have orchestrated the dumping of around 4,275 tonnes of waste at 16 unlicensed sites across England. Three of those sites were in the Grantham area: The Drift, Sewstern; Humby Mills Farm; and Sycamore Farm, Lower Bassingthorpe.
The waste, largely mixed municipal rubbish wrapped in plastic bales, caused serious disruption. Judge Paul Farrar KC told Birmingham Crown Court that smell and flies were a feature at several locations, with landowners forced to meet significant clean-up costs.
Datta has been ordered to pay £1,116,432 under a confiscation order, reflecting the profit made from his crimes, along with £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs. He was also handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, plus 200 hours of unpaid work and rehabilitation activity.
The court heard Datta operated through his company, Atkins Recycling Ltd, falsely claiming waste would be sent to a lawful site, before diverting it to illegal dumps — including those in and around Grantham.
Emma Viner, from the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, said the case showed offenders “have nowhere to hide”, while Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds described it as a shocking example of criminals thinking they were above the law.
Anyone with information about illegal waste activity can contact the Environment Agency’s 24-hour hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or report anonymously via Crimestoppers.
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