Former illegal tip boss gets another jail term

Kokocinski, 54, received the latest term, which will run at the same time as the eight months he is currently serving, after Burnley Crown Court heard how the former skip operator, who ran an unlicensed tip at Sansbury Quarry, Knotts Lane, Colne, received £25,000 for letting a company use the tip - saving it £183,000.

Kokocinski, then of Brownhill Farm, Foxstones Lane, Cliviger, admitted knowingly permitting the deposit of controlled waste at Rosegrove iron works, Burnley, knowingly permitting the keeping of controlled waste at the site, between April and June 1997, and knowingly permitting the disposal of controlled waste at Sansbury Quarry.

He was given a concurrent sentence.

Judge Raymond Bennett said Kokocinski had had his first taste of custody and hopefully it would be his last.

The court heard an enforcement officer of the Environment Agency went to Rosegrove iron works in May 1997. The site was occupied by EOM Construction. On the site were a number of empty skips, waste on the ground, plastic piping, broken up tarmac, soil and timber.

EOM was using the site to keep waste and had been approached by Kokocinski and offered the use of both Rosegrove and Sansbury.

The defendant told a director of EOM both sites were licensed, which was not true.

The company took 525 loads to Sansbury Quarry and was charged £25,509 by Kokocinski.

Had EOM tipped at a fully licensed site it would have cost £209,000, so EOM saved £183,000.

EOM was fined £30,000 by Pennine magistrates after admitting waste offences.

But it was later reduced to £21,000 on appeal.

Robert Crawford, defending, said Kokocinski's farm had now been repossessed, his business had gone and there was no money.

It would not have made the slightest scrap of difference if the court had known about the extra charges at the first hearing.

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