A career criminal who dumped and burned waste on green belt land has walked away from court with a suspended sentence, leaving authorities to foot the £150,000 clean-up bill. Jamie Broadmore, 41, from Strood, operated on an industrial scale, acting aggressively towards firefighters and releasing pigs onto a busy A-road in Kent.
Industrial-scale offending on green belt land
Broadmore admitted an offence under Section 33(1)c of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 at Maidstone Crown Court in June. The court heard how he burned industrial rubbish on the site, with smoke disrupting traffic on nearby roads and blowing across the HS1 rail line. In 2022, the A2 was closed due to fires from the land, and on another occasion, pigs from the site were released onto the A2, causing chaos.
Gravesham Council officials described Broadmore's actions as one of the worst cases of fly-tipping they had ever seen. Despite National Highways spending £150,000 to clear the site and the investigation costing Gravesham Council £4,840, no costs were awarded against him.
Light sentence sparks outrage
The judge sentenced Broadmore to six months in jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to undertake 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation and complete 10 days of rehabilitation activity. Broadmore has 16 previous convictions covering 41 offences, including burglary and fraud.
Labour leader John Burden said the sentence was too light and called for urgent government action to review sentencing guidelines. 'This is a dispiriting result for all involved in bringing this to court,' he said. 'We know judges are bound by sentencing guidelines, but these must be fundamentally flawed when someone who has admitted facilitating illegal dumping on an industrial scale and who has a litany of previous convictions can walk away with such a light sentence.'
Council and MP demand tougher penalties
Burden highlighted the cost to the public, noting that the A2 was closed in 2022 due to fires from the site. 'He also had pigs on site that got released down onto the A2, again causing chaos,' he added. 'How am I and my fellow councillors supposed to explain to our rightly concerned constituents that their council tax has been spent successfully pursuing criminals such as Broadmore, and he does not have to pay a penny towards recouping those costs? It is simply beyond belief.'
The council leader is urging the government to introduce sentences that act as a 'true deterrent' to organised criminal gangs behind the 'epidemic of fly-tipping'. 'We will be lobbying hard through all the channels available to us for this to happen and happen soon,' he said.
Gravesham MP Lauren Sullivan echoed these concerns, saying: 'Fly-tipping is not a victimless crime. It damages our environment, puts public safety at risk, and leaves local taxpayers footing the bill. Cases like this highlight the need for tougher penalties that properly reflect the seriousness of these offences and act as a strong deterrent to those who think they can profit from harming our communities.'
