‘Demolition contractor’ who dumped asbestos near school to pay £80k
CONMAN DUPED CUSTOMERS AND PUT THE PUBLIC AT RISK
A CONMAN who posed as a demolition contractor duped customers across Leicestershire and beyond into having him dangerously remove harmful asbestos.
Lee Charles, of Grantham, Lincolnshire, has now been ordered to pay back more than £80,000 after he tricked customers into expensive contracts and then dumped the waste into hired storage containers.
The 40-year-old marketed himself as Lincs Demolition Ltd for two years as he toured the country getting lucrative jobs for work he had no legal permit to carry out.
He did illegal work in Leicester, Loughborough, Melton and Oakham in Rutland, as well as 40 other locations before he was caught out.
Charles previously pleaded guilty in 2022 to lying to customers and giving false paperwork to hide his deception and was given a suspended prison sentence.
He returned to the Lincoln Crown Court on Monday, May 22, in a case brought by the Environment Agency under the Proceeds of Crime Act, following a financial investigation into the lawful costs he avoided from his crimes.
As well as duping people into paying him large sums of money, Charles’ crimes were also dangerous.
The harmful asbestos - which was banned in the UK in 1999 - was left in storage 200 metres from a school and close to a Girl Guides centre.
He told storage owners that he wanted to keep tools there but the truth was uncovered when he failed to pay rent and the owners forced the locks.
Once exposed at the storage site in Lincolnshire, he moved on to dump the substance in an unpermitted waste site 16 miles away near Sleaford – once again placing the public at risk.
Charles previously pleaded guilty to two counts of operating a waste operation without a permit between 2017 and 2019.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm. He was ordered to pay back £82,100 in two years.
Paul Salter, an environmental waste crime officer for the Environment Agency, said: “Lee Charles’ crimes were not just illegal, but dangerous. He has been ordered to pay back, and this sends out a clear message to others who flout the law that waste crime does not pay.
“Not only do we use environmental law to prosecute those who abuse the environment, but we also use the Proceeds of Crime legislation to ensure that criminals are deprived of the benefits of their illegal activity.
“We support legitimate businesses, and we are proactively supporting them by disrupting and stopping the criminal element backed up by the threat of tough enforcement as in this case.
“We continue to use intelligence-led approaches to target the most serious crimes and evaluate which interventions are most effective. If you see or suspect waste crime is being committed, we urge you to report it immediately to CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111.”
In 2015, illegal waste activity was estimated to cost over £600 million in England alone, with the figure for the UK likely to be much higher.