A father and son have been given suspended sentences after pleading guilty to operating an illegal waste site in Northamptonshire.
Stephen Lack, 72, has three previous convictions for similar offences at his Monkton Sidings site and went to prison in 2021 for illegally burning, burying and stockpiling waste.
During his imprisonment, Andrew Lack, 38, took over operations, but Stephen retained ownership of the site and allowed his son to continue the business. After his release, he resumed his involvement on-site.
On 13 September 2024, Stephen Lack was sentenced to 34 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months at Northampton Crown Court.
He was also ordered to pay £2,400 towards the prosecution costs and given two years to clear the waste from the site.
Andrew Lack was sentenced on 26 July 2023 at Northampton Magistrates’ Court to a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months on the condition that he perform 250 hours of unpaid work.
Investigations by the Environment Agency revealed that skips of waste were being unlawfully processed on-site.
Waste was also stored on bare ground, which risked contaminants polluting the soil and groundwater.
The Environment Agency said this was particularly harmful to adjacent farmland and Fineshade Woods, a sensitive Forestry Commission location just 250m from the waste site.
Sentencing Stephen Lack, His Honour Judge Mayo said that his behaviour had been “deliberate” and that he had exercised “ownership and control over the site for a period of two years”.
Reacting to the sentencing, Paul Salter, Senior Environmental Crime Officer for the Environment Agency, said: “It’s our job to regulate waste activity to make sure it doesn’t put people or the environment at risk.
“These cases are a shocking example of two individuals who continued to be driven by profit blatantly ignoring their responsibilities. They put people and nature in harm’s way and attempted to undercut legitimate businesses.”
