Serial fly-tipper hit with £1.4m bill for dumping waste on rural land

A waste crime boss who dumped rubbish across farms and rural sites in England — equivalent to the weight of 600 African elephants — has been ordered to pay more than £1.4 million.

Varun Datta, 36, ran an operation that scattered more than 4,275 tonnes of waste across 16 illegal sites, from Lincolnshire to the south coast, leaving farmland, a historic manor house and a protected nature reserve buried under bales of rotting refuse.

The nationwide Environment Agency investigation uncovered a coordinated network of illegal tipping grounds spanning Lancashire, Kent, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Rutland and Middlesbrough.

Datta, of Little Chester Street, London, was ordered to pay over £1,116,000 under a Confiscation Order, reflecting the financial benefit of his crimes. He must also pay £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs.

He was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, alongside 30 days of rehabilitation activity and 200 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that Datta became a registered waste broker through Atkins Recycling Ltd in 2015. He claimed the waste his company handled was destined for a legitimate site near Sheffield.

Instead, loads of mixed municipal waste — wrapped tightly in plastic to form large bales — were diverted to unlicensed land across the country.

In 2018, officers seized £131,520 in cash from Datta’s home. A restraint order was later secured on two bank accounts to ensure any future confiscation could be recovered.

After pleading not guilty in 2023, Datta admitted in June 2025 to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited illegally at sixteen sites.

Judge Paul Farrar KC described the offences as “reckless”.

“Smell and flies were a feature at some of the illegal sites and caused a localised adverse effect to air quality,” he said. Landowners were “forced to incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste.”

No environmental permits or valid exemptions were in place at any of the sites.

Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager at the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Unit, said: “We are glad to see the perpetrators brought to justice in this appalling case.”

“Despite their attempts to conceal their criminality, our in-depth investigation spanning the length and breadth of the country ultimately uncovered those responsible,” she added.

“We will never stop fighting to end the scourge of waste crime which scars our environment and communities.”

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds condemned the operation as “a shocking case of illegal waste dumping”, orchestrated by “a group of shameless crooks who thought they could operate above the law.”

“I welcome the punishments secured by the Environment Agency – which send a clear message to criminals that they have nowhere to hide,” she said.

Of the £100,000 compensation order, £70,000 will go to Middlesbrough Council to help cover clean-up costs at the former Sulzer Dowding Mills Factory site. A further £30,000 will be paid to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust for the future management of Middleton Nature Reserve.

Two other men were also prosecuted. Mohammed Saraji Bashir, 45, received a four-month suspended prison sentence and community penalties after admitting offences at three sites. Robert William McAllister, 55, was fined £750 for breaching his duty of care as a waste broker.

Warrants remain active for two further suspects.