The longest ever prison sentence for waste crime is set to be served by a waste crime boss.
Hugh O’Donnell, 65, is still in prison service a four and a half year sentence for waste crimes and money laundering, but he has now been given an extra 1036 days at Westminster Magistrates Court. This is for failing to pay the full amount of a £917,000 confiscation order, which was money he was ordered to repay in 2011 for his waste crimes.
His illegal waste business netted millions of pounds in profit by taking skip loads of construction and demolition waste to a site in Aldermaston, Berkshire, to be dumped in an illegal landfill.
He was first jailed in 2009 for possession of an illegal firearm, uncovered during an Environment Agency investigation, and then sent back to prison the day after his release in 2011 for money laundering and waste offences.
On 3 May 2012, he was ordered to pay the sun of £917,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, but still owes a total of £578,845,71, which he has refused to pay.
On completion of his third sentence, he will have served longer in prison than anybody else for waste crime offences.
Environment Agency prosecution team leader Angus Innes said: “The Environment Agency wants to make sure that serious waste crime doesn’t pay. We don’t just catch criminals – we want to confiscate the assets they’ve gained from crime.
“This investigation has been one of the biggest and most complex ever undertaken by the Environment Agency and our partner agencies, in particular the London Regional Asset Recovery Team, to proactively target an organised criminal gang running an illegal waste site.
“This sentence sends out a message that failure to pay proceeds of waste crime is dealt with by the courts seriously and you can be sent to jail until the monies are paid in full.”
