A fly tipper has been prosecuted thanks to Bucks Council's high tech methods to catch criminals.
Lawrence Joseph Rooney, age 25, from London was found guilty of fly-tipping a bed and mattress at Crow Piece Lane, Burnham in August 2019, following trial at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court earlier this month.
On 19 August 2019, a camera captured images of a man dumping waste comprising a divan bed base and mattress at the location. Following checks the vehicle was shown to be insured in Rooney’s name. The driver of the vehicle caught on camera dumping the waste also bore a striking similarity to Rooney himself.
Rooney was interviewed under caution by council investigators but denied dumping the waste. He said he had sold the vehicle to a man who looked just like him.
He gave the man’s name but could not provide any evidence of the sale such as the DVLA slip or any other paperwork. He said he would check to see if he could provide the new owner’s phone number but was never able to do so.
In summing up, District Judge Dodds found Rooney’s evidence unconvincing, describing it as "hopeless, entirely unbelievable and vague" and found him guilty of the dumping offence due to the corroboration of the vehicle insurance on top of the striking similarity between Rooney and the man caught in the act on camera.
The judge fined Rooney £750 for dumping the waste and ordered him to pay clean-up, investigation and legal costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £75, making a total of £1,075.
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