'Prolific waste criminal' ordered to pay £1.4m for illegal dumping at 16 sites

A "prolific waste criminal" has been ordered to pay £1.4m relating to 4,275 tonnes of illegally dumped waste across sites in England.

It comes after a nationwide investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) uncovered a network of 16 locations, stretching from the North East to the South East.

Varun Datta, 36, from Belgravia in central London, had been a registered waste broker since 2015, a court heard.

The company boss diverted thousands of tonnes of waste away from a licenced tip to illegal sites across Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, Kent, Surrey, Rutland and Middlesborough.

Among the sites targeted by Datta were farms, a historic manor house and a nature reserve.

The government said it was a "shocking case of illegal waste dumping" and has called him a "prolific waste criminal".

Datta pleaded guilty in June 2025 to knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited at 16 sites.

The total weight of the waste - around 4,275 tonnes - was roughly the weight of 600 African elephants.

During his sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court last Friday, Judge Paul Farrar KC said Datta's offences were "reckless" and forced landowners to "incur substantial costs in removing the illegal waste".

Datta has been ordered to repay the financial benefit of his offending, which stands at £1.1m, as well as £100,000 in compensation and £200,000 in prosecution costs.

He was also handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, as well as 30 days' rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Two other men were prosecuted in this case, with one fined and another facing a suspended sentence, rehabilitation and unpaid work. Arrest warrants for two other men remain active.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the dumping was "orchestrated by a group of shameless crooks who thought they could operate above the law".

"This government is committed to stamping out this type of criminality across the country by boosting funds to tackle waste crime and introducing tougher checks and penalties for those who break the law," she said.

Read more on Sky News:
Agency has 'serious questions to answer'
Arrests for illegal waste dumping
Living next to a 25,000-tonne illegal dump

Meanwhile, Emma Viner, enforcement and investigations manager at the EA's national environmental crime unit, said: "Despite their attempts to conceal their criminality, our in-depth investigation spanning the length and breadth of the country ultimately uncovered those responsible.

"We will never stop fighting to end the scourge of waste crime which scars our environment and communities."

Sky News has been investigating the scourge of waste crime across the country, including at Britain's latest large-scale site outside Epping in Essex.

(c) Sky News 2026: 'Prolific waste criminal' ordered to pay £1.4m for illegal dumping at 16 sites