A man who transformed his farm in picturesque Bride into an illegal rubbish tip is awaiting sentence before the Deputy High Bailiff.

When officials visited Glyn Deryck Jones’ farm at Grenaby Road, Dogmills, near Ramsey, they were confronted with an array of unlicensed skips, blazing rubbish and assorted detritis.

For the prosecution, James Robinson told the court the junk deposited at the site, over the course of some years, included old tyres, building rubble including concrete blocks, glass, plastic, stone, metal, insulation boards, electrical switches and wiring, and even the burnt-out remains of a trawler.

The latest court hearing heralds the end of a saga that began back in 2007 when complaints were made about the burning of illegal waste.

’During 2007, officials from the government’s Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture visited the site and found blazing waste in a skip and a number of other skips on the site,’ Mr Robinson told the court.

In February 2008, he said Jones was advised in a letter about pollution and told he needed a licence to burn waste on the site. He was also told planning permission was needed to store the skips there. He was contacted again in November 2010 about waste disposal at the site following complaints from Bride Commissioners.

’He was told a licence was required and he had to dispose of what was there on the site,’ Mr Robinson said.

When officials from DEFA visited subsequently, the full extent of the rubbish stored on the site became evident and the operation clearly contravened the Public Health Act, 1990, the court was told. Jones was given instructions to clear the site but a further visit in January 2015 revealed no significant change in the conditions there. An enforcement notice was served in February 2015 giving seven months for improvements to be effected but by September there was little improvement.

Further checks were carried out in August last year and far from having cleared the site, Jones admitted even more material had been disposed of there since the notice was served.

’It was just being used as a dumping ground for waste and machinery and it has been going on for some considerable time,’ Mr Robinson said.

Jones, who is 58, admitted dumping controlled waste without a licence at Grenaby Farm between September 2007 and August 2016, storing skips and processing waste without planning consent, failing to comply with the enforcement notice and failing to remove the waste.

Mrs Hughes adjourned the case to consider her sentencing options. Jones reappears before the court for sentencing on April 11.