Episode 12 Filthy Rotten Scoundrels

'Welcome to the fight to clean up our streets and put the great back into Britain.'

We will not tolerate people fly-tipping in Enfield.

Our job is to find and to prosecute them.

'Every 30 seconds, someone somewhere in the UK illegally dumps rubbish.

'From bags of dog poo to mountains of rubble, it's wrecking the streets where we live.

'Coming up on today's programme,

'a night-time operation to catch businesses illegally dumping their waste.'

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention something you later rely on in court.

'In Liverpool, officers are trying to track down a person who's been very busy dumping in a back street.'

I'd say this is roughly five separate tips.

Ah, there we go. We have a name and address.

'And two brothers have been caught red-handed dumping van-loads of rubbish on CCTV.

'Will officers get the results they desperately need?'

Pictures speak a thousand words. But it's really into the judge's hands, how it's going to turn out.

'This is the fight against Britain's Filthy Rotten Scoundrels.'

'London. It might look fantastic from the sky, but there's a war being waged on its streets.

'A war against fly-tipping.

'Every year, more than half a million illegal fly-tips take place right across the capital.

'Each borough council has a crack team of investigators

'determined to catch the scoundrel responsible.'

There's absolutely no excuse for this behaviour.

I don't want to see fly-tipped tyres being left in people's front gardens,

people's driveways, children's play areas.

We have cameras out there, we will find out who you are and we will deal with you appropriately.

'In extreme cases,

'investigators from different boroughs work together to bring the criminals to justice.

'This is the story of how two brothers, Leslie and Leonard Price,

'responsible for some of the worst fly-tips in four London boroughs,

'were brought down by the council determined to get them.

'Hillingdon, West London, in the dead of the night.

'CCTV has caught a van about to dump its load all over a road.

'The investigating officer for this serious fly-tip is Jan Carlo Cera.

They came with a white tipper...

..and they dumped approximately two tonnes of building waste.

This is a bus route and, obviously, caused some disruption to traffic.

In fact, there was debris scattered all over the place

and cars going up and down the road had difficulties driving through.

'And, as if that wasn't bad enough,

'the same van was captured in the same place dumping another load of waste on the road.

'This time, they were brazen enough to do it in broad daylight.'

In the second incident, the white tipper comes from that way.

The second brother gets off the vehicle,

walks back towards the first brother,

fly-tips the waste.

'The van then hastily draws off, but the brothers are not quite done here yet.'

After three or four minutes, the CCTV video shows

the vehicle coming back.

Now, what we think is that, when he got to the top of the road,

he realised, or maybe his brother pointed out, that some of the waste had been left on the vehicle.

'They clearly want to do a good job of it and are back to dump the rest.

'But our trusty CCTV operator hasn't just been quick with the camera,

'they've also been quick to dial 999

'and in a matter of minutes, the brothers were caught bang to rights. What a result!'

For the police officer to be in the right place at the right time, they were in the area,

and they managed to attend the site very quickly after the call.

'This is one of the most outrageous cases Jan Carlo has ever had to deal with.'

I got the impression that they are not really bothered.

They know how the system works, they think they can get away with it.

They're not afraid of being seen, they don't show any remorse or any shame or anything,

any sort of regret for what they do.

'The Price brothers clearly don't give a monkeys about the implications of what they're doing.

'But fly-tips like these are a huge problem for people like Michael Judd

'who owns stables in the area.'

We run a riding school in Hillingdon. It's been established now for 50 years.

We use various parcels of land throughout the borough for grazing

and for exercise for the horses so they're not too lively when they come into the school to work.

This is one of the parcels of land we use.

This road has always been a major problem for tipping.

If anything comes into our field, it has to be picked up before we put the horses back in.

Then it has to be disposed of. I keep a skip in my yard, which costs me quite a lot of money to empty.

It all costs me time and money to clear other people's mess up.

'And the mess needing to be cleared up is about to get even bigger.

'Still to come, as Jan Carlo's investigation unfolds,

'it looks like the brothers are responsible for

'much more than he first expected.'

It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents

that we're currently investigating and have investigated

for several years now.

'It's 7pm in North London and Islington Council's environment investigators

'are on a sting operation to catch out sly traders dumping their waste illegally.'

Are these bags yours?

Are you sure?

'The man in charge tonight is environment street manager Tim Trune,

'who's joined by his officers Malcolm, Daniel and Eda.

'46-year-old Tim spent 21 years tackling environmental crime in North London's boroughs.'

Hello. Can I have a quick word outside?

'For the past three years, he's been fighting to keep the streets of Islington clean

'and he's sick of businesses trying it on.'

What's happening is their waste is being taken away by the council

free of charge, so it's up to us to make sure that we close that loophole.

'In Islington alone, there are around 10,000 firms that generate 130 tonnes of rubbish a week.

'Trade waste has to be disposed of properly and is meant to be put in special plastic bags.

'Businesses buy these from the council for about £1 and they're collected at specified times.

'While many traders play it by the book, some are pulling a fast one

'and putting out their rubbish in thousands of ordinary bin bags.

'Across the UK, these cheats are costing us, the taxpayer,

'somewhere in the region of £25 million to dispose of their trade waste.'

Our brief for tonight is, we're going to have a look at the waste

and find out what waste is out illegally. We'll do this until the early hours of the morning.

Hello, sir, are you all right? Do you remember me?

'28-year-old Eda trained as a police officer before joining Islington's environment enforcers.'

-Do you have any bags?

-'She's known for her tenacity

'and her Turkish background has come in pretty handy, too.'

There's a big Turkish community here. I try and keep to English as much as I can,

but if they don't understand, then I'll just translate it and speak to them in Turkish.

'26-year-old Daniel, who's another crusader for the local environment, has been on the job for four years

'and is tired of traders making our streets a mess.'

Not only is it the cost of it going to landfill,

if you just look here,

it's the cleansing, as well.

The pavements are stained. We'd have to arrange for a deep clean, guys come down, jetting it.

'Tonight's sting is targeting the north of the borough that's filled with late-night takeaways,

'cafes and convenience stores, and it's not long before Daniel and Eda find what they're looking for.'

Basically, it's these bags here. I've seen these before.

I'm just going to take a picture now.

So, basically, I've got the picture of the bags and ... Fried Chicken,

which I think is where it's come from. So I'm just going to go through it now.

Yeah, they're all black sacks.

They should be in authorised trade sacks

with print on it stating the name of the company that's going to collect it.

That's clearly commercial waste. Food containers.

Pitta bread. Industrial-size tomato sauce bottles.

'In other words, it doesn't look like the stuff that you and I would normally chuck out.

'And there's loads of it.

'And then, Daniel finds the last bit of proof he needs.'

I've got evidence with Fried Chicken on it.

'Well, this looks like an open and shut case, surely.'

We've gone through the waste and we have reason to believe it's come from your premises.

Because the dustbin is here, everybody puts a dustbin here.

Can you just state, is this your waste?

This one's mine.

-Those ones?

-I don't know.

-I can open them.

'Is this guy a comedian? I can't believe he actually thinks he can fool Daniel and Eda.'

It's the same type of stuff.

It's all the same. All chicken.

Burger buns, chips. It's the same.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Again. Fried chicken.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-So this one is yours?

-Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Right, so, you've got a significant amount of waste here

illegally deposited on a public highway.

'So the man fessed up to three bags of rubbish but, what a surprise,

'there are seven and they're all his.

'But that's not the half of it. It turns out this takeaway has previous form.'

So you're aware it's an offence to place your waste out in black sacks.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Yeah?

'Ten out of ten for trying, but there's no pulling the wool over Daniel and Eda's eyes.'

He's accepted that the waste has come from their business.

There's a substantial amount of waste here. If you imagine this goes out every evening.

It's likely he will receive another fixed penalty.

If not, it could even go to prosecution, cos this is quite a large amount of waste.

'That's Islington Council one,

'cheating traders nil.

'Still to come, officer Tim Trune works on into the night

'to keep Islington's businesses in check.'

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention something you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say will be given in evidence.

'Early on a Monday morning in Liverpool

'and enforcement investigator Martin Handley has a busy day ahead of him.

'It's his job to make the city a cleaner place for the residents

'who have just had enough.'

There's beds, there's wardrobes, there's three-piece suites,

there's bin bags full of clothes,

there's cement, there's everything. You name what you can dump, they dump.

There's no pleasure in waking up in the morning, looking out of the window

on a nice day and seeing a load of rubbish.

Well, I don't think they care about what other people think.

I think it's just, "Let's take it and get rid of it."

'Weekends usually see an increase in illegal fly-tips,

'so by the time Monday comes around, he's straight on the road

'to try and catch the villains wrecking his city.'

Where we live, it's...

I think, one of the best cities in the world anyway,

with all the heritage it's got, world-famous for its football, its music,

comedians, some good-looking people have come from here, me not included.

It wasn't the cleanest and, yes, there was a lot of fly-tipping, but it's decreased.

If we can make a little difference, make it a bit cleaner, where we live,

because it's our city as well as everybody else's,

then job done.

'Martin's partner in grime today is Bill.

'He's an ex-dustman and what he doesn't know about rubbish and fly-tipping isn't worth knowing.'

'Martin and his team constantly keep an eye on fly-tipping hotspots around the city

'and he's just had a tip-off that one of them has been targeted.'

We're on Grafton Street in Liverpool 8

and it's a Monday morning special, furniture with some bags.

So, again, it's just a case of me and Bill having a look to see what we can find out there.

So let's go and do that.

It tends to be more over the weekend that this type of thing gets done

and we come in and we start finding them all throughout the week.

Predominantly one of the worst areas in Liverpool for fly-tipping, unfortunately.

So it's a pretty busy area. As you can see, anywhere at all.

'This is turning into a good morning for Martin because he's already got a result.'

On the boxes, there's a name and address just there,

so we'll photograph that.

'It never ceases to amaze Bill just how lazy some people are.'

Not ten minutes from this location, just on the main road down there,

is the tip, and you can put it there free of charge. Open seven days a week.

So if we find them, we'll give them the information for where they can take it next time.

'No excuses there, then.

'And Martin's starting to get a clearer picture of the person that's dumped this lot.'

Betting slip, but I don't think any of them came up for him.

Very optimistic person, whoever that was, they had Wolves to win away at Arsenal.

'Optimistic but a fool, because Martin's found something that could be a nail in their coffin.'

-Not too bad.

-A couple of days ago. That's from up the road there.

People don't realise what they're throwing away.

Not only is the girl's name and address on it, but also there's a phone number on it.

'The boys are on a roll this morning and they've got great evidence to follow up on.

'And, being a Monday morning, they've got their fair share of fly-tips to investigate today.

'And this tip looks very familiar indeed.'

Surprise, surprise, the old-style television there.

Pink bed frame, obviously a little girl's. So, again,

let's have a look and see what's going on with the world.

'Martin's being helped out on this one by his colleague, Will,

and there's a regular routine to how they start off searching a fly-tip like this.'

As per normal, a bit of a boot, see if there's any vermin or whatever in it.

They'd leg it, hopefully.

'Looking at this tiny bed frame and desk,

'something tells Martin that one little girl perhaps isn't so little any more.

'And, along with more bags of dumped rubbish, will they find the clues they need?'

Some domestic waste. It may well be that there's nothing in it at all,

or we could strike lucky again and end up getting an address out of it.

'Will's got a nose for searching through bags like this,

'but could he have struck gold already?'

Ah! There we go.

We've struck lucky. Seen where it's from, as well?

The address we've got on this envelope is well out of the area.

'It would be easy to think this was all done by the same person,

'but assumption isn't a word that's in Martin's vocabulary.'

You can't always assume that this is connected with that.

One attracts another attracts another. It's a chain effect.

"If they can leave it there, I'll leave it there."

'Martin and Will have got what they need and, as always, they leave a calling card.'

What we'll do, as well, is leave this. It basically informs them of the offence

and informs them of the consequences.

Erm, I don't think a lot of people realise that they are the consequences.

£50,000. People could lose their house.

Hopefully it'll act as some form of deterrent because it'll show that

we've looked at the bags, we've looked at the fly-tip, we've searched it.

'Liverpool's enviro enforcers have been working very hard over recent years

'to try and make their city a greener and cleaner place to live.'

We have made a difference. It is improving.

As you can see, there's lots of law-abiding people here.

They try to keep their properties nice and clean.

There's lots of building work, there's lots of redevelopment, regeneration going on,

and the last thing local residents, local businesses want to see is this.

'Too right, Martin. Fingers crosses that that letter gets you a result with this lot.

'A Monday is always busy for these guys, but it looks like somebody's been even busier over the weekend.

'Still to come, a secluded road just outside the city centre

'has been hit, and this one is big.'

I'd say this is roughly one, two, three, four, five separate tips.

'But will they find any clues to catch the criminals?

'Back in Islington, enviro investigators are scouring the streets

'looking out for the businesses illegally putting out their rubbish in ordinary black sacks.

'Trade waste must be disposed of properly in bags that traders buy from the council for around £1.

'And this pays for the proper disposal of their waste.

'Officers Tim and Malcolm are on the road, on the lookout for any rogue bin bags.

'Now, it would be easy to think this is a small issue, but it all adds up,

'and ends up costing us, the taxpayer.'

If you consider that they're using five trade sacks and then two black sacks,

they're doing that every night of the week, because most fast-food shops are open every day of the year,

you're looking at 700, 800 sacks, which weighs probably quite a few tonnes.

'Tim's really had enough of it. So when he spots council dustmen collecting a load of black sacks

'near a kebab takeaway, he wants to check this out

'because he's had a problem here before.'

This is a known site to me for tipping

and I've already dealt with this bloke via a fixed penalty, or my team have, on previous occasions.

They put their waste here but they say it's not their waste, it's residential waste.

'Time to have a word with a man from the shop.'

Yeah, sorry, my name is Tim Trune, London Borough of Islington.

It's about your waste which was down here.

'Tim needs to do this under caution.'

I'm going to caution you now.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence. OK?

'A quick chat with the man from the shop and Tim's got no evidence to pursue the matter further.

'But, like he does with every shop in the area, he'll be keeping an eye on what's going on here.'

I will be here every night. I'll be checking that waste there. OK?

'Islington's enviro investigators have to keep regular tabs on all the shops and restaurants on their patch

'because they're determined to make sure the trade waste in their borough is disposed of properly.

'In 2009, Islington Council handed out over 1,100 fixed penalty notices

'against businesses putting out waste illegally

'and these cost the crafty traders almost £87,000 in fines.

'But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

'Islington's environment enforcers got mixed results from their night-time operation.

'It was an £80 fine for the audacious workers at the chicken fast-food restaurant

'that slung seven bags of illegal rubbish outside their front door.

'Tim and his enforcers continue to keep regular tabs on all the firms in their patch.

'So if you're thinking of pulling a fast one, watch out.

'Still to come on Filthy Rotten Scoundrels,

'the two brothers, Leonard and Leslie Price,

'that have been caught repeatedly fly-tipping on CCTV

'are now facing serious charges in court.'

I'm hoping for, obviously, a successful result,

but it's really in the judge's hands how it's going to turn out.

'But first...

'In the eastern county of Essex lies Tendring, a seaside district that's home to Clacton-on-Sea

'and boasts 36 miles of coastline as well as rolling green countryside.

'You'd think locals would make sure they kept this place clean and tidy for everyone to enjoy.

'However, a few rotters are determined to ruin it for everyone else.

'Enviro enforcer Darren Weaver has just picked up a new case.'

I got a call earlier on regarding some asbestos

that was suspected to be dumped by a football club in Holland-on-Sea.

I want to make sure that we get it cleared as soon as possible, really.

'Asbestos is no joke. If you breathe in the fibres, it can be fatal,

'and that's why Darren needs to deal with it straight away.

'But first, he needs to find it.'

There should be two bags of asbestos dumped by a bungalow.

There's some building material behind that wall there.

'Could he have located the poisonous stash?'

Yeah, it's not asbestos, anyway.

That's just bricks, really.

Breeze blocks.

'It looks like Darren's informants have got their wires crossed.'

This is a problem we sometimes have,

the location of the dumped waste is a little bit...vague.

'It could be anywhere.

'This place is teeming with bags and bits of trash, but there's no sign of the asbestos.'

There's bags here. Bags and glass everywhere.

'And if it does indeed exist, it's something Darren needs to find and sharpish.

'But this is all in a day's work.'

I'd rather people call me and talk to me and give me information and I come and it's nothing,

rather than people not calling me and there is something there and it just gets left there,

because if I don't know about it, I'm not going to be able to attend and investigate it.

And it sits there for weeks and weeks and kids play with it

and people get sick 30 years down the line.

'Darren needs to locate this tip. Thankfully, he bumps into Charles Ray, the man who made the call.'

DOG BARKS

-The car door over there has been there for many, many weeks.

-OK.

-But this here I think is outrageous.

-OK, let's have a look, then.

'Charles is obviously upset, but whatever you do, don't do this at home.'

-It's like a bombsite out here.

-Be careful, I think that is asbestos.

-Is that asbestos?

-Yeah, that's asbestos, yeah. It is, mate.

-Look at it.

-Yeah. I wouldn't mess around with it too much if I was you.

-OK.

-Well, I'm going to pass away one day.

That is asbestos, though. I know I keep saying it, but be careful.

'You tell him, Darren. It's dangerous stuff.'

They have been dumped on here, fly-tippers, got to be local.

-OK.

-Because there's no way they've come up here in a van.

They've been doing some refurbishments

-in three of the places around here.

-OK.

And I would hate to go to someone, "They done it" and they never. That's not my game.

-Have you got any CCTV on these grounds?

-On the grounds, no.

It'll be a tricky one to find out who's done it. I don't want to move it around too much.

'It's going to be a hard case to crack. With no witnesses or CCTV

'and with all that asbestos, Darren can't look for clues.

'But it's not stopping good old Charles.'

I'm looking in there to see if there's any names on there.

All I've found are bits of paper with no names or nothing.

It's instruction manuals. Someone's put a new boiler in. That's what they've done.

For the old boilers, they used to have asbestos chutes that used to go up, because it's fireproof.

Up here, at weekends, there's loads of children.

-Loads and loads of children play up here.

-Yeah.

I'm an old man, I know. Two third of my life is gone.

-But to dump that where there's loads of children, you don't do that.

-It's inconsiderate.

That's what we're trying to fight.

'Bless his cotton socks. But Charles is right.

'These dirty rotten fly-tippers have gone too far. Way too far.

'But I hate to say it, every cloud does have a silver lining, and for Charles, it's scrap metal.'

Here, I might have that for the scrap yard, that bit of copper.

That might be my breakfast tomorrow, that bit of copper.

-Do you know how much that is?

-If you're going to recycle it, I don't see a problem with that.

-I will.

-Yeah.

If we cover this back up, and I'll get it taken away.

'Charles has made himself a few quid from the scrap metal.

'But for Darren, he's got to arrange for the council to specially dispose of the asbestos

'which, of course, will be at the expense of the tendering taxpayer.'

I reckon you've got a good breakfast there.

How much, then? How much weight would you say that is?

I reckon you've got about four quid, five quid.

'Back in Hillingdon, Jan Carlo is the investigating officer

'on one of the borough's biggest ever cases of fly-tipping.

'Brothers Leslie and Leonard Price have been caught on CCTV

'and on one occasion, they were even caught red-handed by the police.

'The case being put together against the brothers also shows them dumping at another location.

'Their target was a car park at a builders merchants.

'It had been hit so many times before that CCTV cameras were put up to catch people in the act.

'And guess what! It worked!'

'Rick Betford is the supervisor here and it's an all-too-common sight for him.'

A typical morning, you can drive in

and as you approach it, you'll find that the whole parking space

has been taken up by fly-tipped rubbish.

It's a bit ironic, because we're a building and maintenance company,

we have our own rubbish that we generate, and to think other people are out there and they drive down

any quiet back road that they can find and just dump what they like.

You have to have that sort of mentality where you don't really have much of a conscience

and don't really care. As long as it's out of sight for them,

they don't really worry about the impact on anybody else.

'Jan Carlo now had three fly-tips on his patch that he knew the brothers were responsible for.

'The evidence was clear, and just as he was about to put the case through the council's legal team,

'there was some surprising news.

'Ealing Council, a neighbouring borough, were also after the brothers on fly-tipping charges.

'Today, he's on his way to Ealing Magistrates' Court.

'Having already served a formal interview notice to Leonard Price,

'today his brother Leslie is in court

'and Jan Carlo plans to serve him with his.'

He is a professional. He has been doing this, I understand, many, many times for the past six months.

We hope that, after the court, I'll be able to speak to him.

I'll have a letter ready to hand him inviting him for interview next week in Hillingdon

where we hope we'll have an opportunity to interview him and clarify his role in these incidents.

'Bill Hickson is Jan Carlo's boss

'and is just as determined to catch the scoundrels.

'Now, the brothers know what they're doing is illegal and Bill knows why they're doing it.'

Crimes committed by hardened criminals are becoming harder to commit these days

and therefore people are looking to carry out an offence where they can make money

and it is going to be hard for people to track down who these people are.

And that's why we're using all of our techniques to investigate,

to find out who these people are and bring them to justice.

'Hillingdon deals with nearly 2,000 fly-tips a year,

'but the enforcement team are making good progress in tackling the issue.

'Jan Carlo is now back from Ealing Magistrates' Court to bring Bill up to speed with how he got on.'

The brother has pleaded not guilty to all 20 charges.

-All 20?

-He's been remanded in custody for the next four weeks.

-So he is obviously being referred to Crown Court.

-Did you have an opportunity to speak to him?

He said that he was not very happy to be interviewed.

He was not very polite to the police officer when he replied to the offer.

But I don't think there'll be an opportunity because he'll be kept in custody now for the next four weeks.

And then, from there, he's going to go on trial.

So there's an opportunity for us now to catch up

and do the case file and bring it forwards.

'Ealing has a strong case against the brothers and so does Hillingdon,

'especially with the CCTV footage and the police catching them in the act.

'Jan Carlo and his colleagues are now ready to put the final pieces of their investigation together.

'Attention to detail is key for these officers, who must make sure they've got a watertight case

'if they're going to get a conviction.

'Boss Bill Hickson knows how important it is that they get it right first time.'

It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents that we're currently investigating

and, indeed, have investigated for several years now.

When we get these individuals into court, it is satisfying for all the officers that put the hard work in,

but not only that, it's the residents of Hillingdon that can actually see

the improvements that we're making, and when these incidents take place, appropriate action is being taken.

'Everyone is hoping that everything they've got will bring these crooks down.'

That is one of the elements that I know that our legal team will be pressing to judges,

to actually look at the evidence and it really does give first-hand viewing of what has occurred.

And, of course, pictures speak a thousand words.

But it's really in the judge's hands how it's going to turn out.

'Still to come, with everyone poised for the final court case,

'will Hillingdon and Ealing Councils get the results they desperately want?'

This is the best part of the job. You've got a conclusion,

you've got to the end of the case from an investigative point of view

and now it's up to our legal team to present the best case.

'Back in Liverpool, it's a busy Monday for enforcement officer Martin.

'He's already been to two tips that happened over the weekend

'and is now on his way to another. And this one is big!'

We're on our way to a place called Mann Street.

It's just outside the city centre.

Apparently, there's a large fly-tip in there, so we're going to have a look, see what we can find.

As you can see, as close to the city centre as it is,

it's really, really quiet and out of the way,

so it's ideal for people to go and tip in.

But, unfortunately for them, we know it's an area for them to tip in so we're on the case.

So let's see what we can see.

'Martin's been joined by his colleague Bill for this one.'

-This is a nice, juicy one, isn't it?

-I'd say this was roughly one, two, three, four, five separate tips.

Potentially, it's the same person, five different tips.

What we'll do now is carry out a search of the properties just here and see what we can find.

'With every fly-tip, the boys need to find hard evidence that will lead them to the illegal dumpers.

'But they always have a gut feeling about who's been up to no good.'

This is definitely a house clearance.

About three or four different drops.

-I would suggest a van of some sort.

-If it was a van, looking at the size of the road,

they'd have to back onto there to get it out because of that lamppost,

whereas a three and a half tonne just comes up, get dumped and away.

-So sorry, Martin.

-He says tom-ar-toe, I say tom-ay-toe.

'Now stop bickering, boys.

'Bill's got a few tricks up his sleeve.'

One thing we will say about three-piece suites, although they think there's nothing in them...

What we can do is just get a knife and cut the bottom

and because it's come from a property, sometimes mail is put down the side

and you can't deny that that was in that property.

'But there's no need for a knife today, though, because Martin is already onto something.'

Ah, here we go.

We have a name and address.

Can you get us an evidence bag please, Bill? Thank you.

So what I'll do now is I'll get my very expensive

150-megapixel camera out

and take a photograph of it.

We're not accusing this guy, as yet, of doing it, or person.

But what we'll do is we will write to this person and invite them to come in for an interview.

And let us know why and how it got there or how they think it got here.

The person named there is actually, I would assume,

it's only an assumption, applying for a security licence.

But unfortunately, if he gets done for fly-tipping, he's got no chance cos he'll get a criminal conviction.

It's definitely a house clearance.

As you can see, we've got baths, toilets, furniture.

Mattresses. Builders' rubble.

'But there's something else they've found that's even more alarming.'

We've even got some sort of asbestos on one of them, so we'll contact the team that deals with that.

It can kill you years on. So the people who are dumping it,

not only are they trying to save a few quid, but they're risking their own lives and the lives of others.

If they're taking that in a van, I wouldn't like to be in an enclosed space with asbestos.

So good luck to them. I hope they don't get anything nasty.

'But the asbestos isn't the only thing that Bill's spotted that could be dangerous.

'If the carpet's set alight, it can be engulfed in flames very quickly.

It's very toxic if it burns.

It's right next to a brewery, there's businesses right next to it. If that goes on fire...

You'd be amazed what people do actually throw away.

This is complete. Name, address, bank account,

the transactions that he's had recently.

-So it tells us who he is, where he is, how much he's worth.

-Yeah.

And what his bank details are.

I mean, that in the wrong hands is worth a fortune.

'Martin and Bill are starting to build a picture of what they think might have been going on here.'

The addresses may be different, but the materials are the same

and they're dumped in the same area. So the assumption, and it's only an assumption,

is that the same person has done all the dumping.

Obviously, we'll write to all these people named

and see if they can help us distinguish that fact.

Because if it's the same person who's collecting from different addresses,

the people where he's collecting from,

there's a fair chance they're paying him to remove this stuff. They're doing it in good faith

and he can't be bothered going down to the tip, he can't be bothered queuing up, whatever the reason is,

he doesn't care that there's other people's details there. It's free.

'The clean-up crews will be called out straight away,

'especially to get rid of that asbestos.

'Martin and Bill have got all the evidence they need from this dump

'and with a maximum fine of £50,000 and five years in prison at stake,

'they're hoping that one of the people they interview will lead them closer to the scoundrel dumper.

'Back in Hillingdon, officers have been putting together

'what they hope will be a strong case against two brothers, Leslie and Leonard Price.

'It's alleged that they've been repeatedly fly-tipping across four London boroughs.'

It's probably one of the largest-scale incidents that we're currently investigating

and, indeed, have investigated for several years now.

'There's a lot riding on this case, and finally the day everyone's been preparing for has arrived.

'It's the day of the court case.'

Yeah, this is the best part of the job. You've got a conclusion,

the end of the case, certainly from the investigative point of view.

And we can just come along to court now. We've done our bit

in terms of obtaining all the evidence.

Now it's up to our legal team to present the best case.

'Surely, with the amount of damning evidence they have, especially the CCTV,

'this should be an open and shut case.

'And it's not long before John is out with the news.'

He pleaded guilty to all three charges

and the court decided it would be better if they were all sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court

at a date to be arranged in conjunction with about another half dozen offences

that he's already admitted in Ealing, Richmond and Merton, I believe.

I'm absolutely delighted. The evidence was so overwhelming

that the one brother, Leonard, he had nothing other than to plead guilty,

cos the evidence was so overwhelming. I would suspect you're looking at a very serious sentence.

'It's a great result for the council enforcement teams

'and for the people who live in the local area, too.'

I think the general public, me included,

tend to feel that these people just get away with it.

We don't actually hear of anybody being prosecuted.

So if they have been caught, I guess it's good.

They shouldn't have done it and maybe the publicity will deter other people.

'June 2010, and brothers Leslie and Leonard Price have now been sentenced for their crimes.

'Bill Hickson, the boss of Hillingdon enviro enforcers, has the news.'

The sentencing was very severe

and was in line with the offences they had committed.

One of the brothers received a 12-month jail sentence

for each of the cases that he had been involved in,

plus he was awarded an Anti-Social Behaviour Order

which restricts him, for five years, carrying out waste operations.

The other brother concerned

was awarded 200 hours community service, which will be completed within the next two years.

It just goes to show that the courts are taking environmental crime very seriously.

It's not acceptable. There's massive harm done

to the local environment, and not only that, it's the cost of the clearance

that could clearly be spent on other activities that the local authority could put into the community.

The sentences do show a very strong message

that environmental crime is not acceptable

and local authorities will do everything that they possibly can

to find offenders and take appropriate action against those offenders.

'In the Liverpool fly-tipping case where Martin found the betting slip,

'they spoke to the person whose name and phone number they found,

'but they weren't linked to the dump.

'In the case with the pink bed frame and smashed TV,

'Martin and Will are still following up on leads.

'And as for the multiple dumps just outside the town centre,

'Martin and Bill are still investigating.

'Every day on our behalf right across the UK,

'officers are trying to make our country a greener, cleaner place to live.

'Join us next time when we'll be exposing more Filthy Rotten Scoundrels.'

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