Britain's 'worst fly-tipper' faces £100k fine and jail time

Britain's worst fly tipper has been threatened with jail if he does not pay £100,000 in fines and costs for turning a 14-hectare beauty spot into a landfill site.

Maidstone Council in Kent spent almost ten years trying to pursue 'neighbour from hell' Langley Beck over his campaign of dumping.

Now he has been fined £60,000 and told to pay council legal costs of £40,000 in one year.

He also has to clear the land and stop living on it. If he does not then he will serve 16 months in jail.

Shocking aerial photos taken by drone show the level of destruction he left at the site and how it looks now.

Dumped rubbish, cars, vehicles, junk, caravans and filth are strewn over the woodland.

The authority started enforcement action in 2014 after it found the 14-hectare plot on the North Downs in Kent littered with broken vehicles and waste.

Maidstone Borough Council brought Beck to court and he was sentenced on August 15.

Maidstone County Court fined him £60,000, awarded costs to the Council of £40,000 and a victim surcharge of £170.

This needs to be paid by February 15, 2025 and the land cleared.

For the past 19 years, the council has been trying to resolve the issue with Beck, taking legal action in 2021.

Beck had previously ignored requirements of an Enforcement Notice in 2014 to stop living on the land and the unlawful disposal of waste and car parts eto restore the land. 

The unlawful site continued to expand and there was a continued threat of further harm to the area.

Clive English, cabinet member for environmental services and enforcement said: 'The sentencing of Mr Beck should send a clear message that this type of illegal dumping of waste will not be tolerated, it contaminates and destroys the land and surrounding areas. 

'MBC has worked closely with its partner agencies to take the strongest possible action against people like Mr Beck who repeatedly flout the law.'

Tony Harwood, cabinet member for planning policy and management added: 'The council has worked hard in trying to stop the catastrophic harm being inflicted on this ancient woodland site and ensure a clean-up with the landowner - over many years, however he chose to ignore an Enforcement Notice and then a Full Injunction.

'Although this has been a long, complex and extremely difficult case, the outcome is appropriate and sends out a strong message that Maidstone Borough Council will not tolerate abuse of our precious countryside. 

'This sentence now brings these particular criminal proceedings to a close, but we vow to be just as tough with those other offenders we are actively enforcing against.'

Beck was previously described as having a 'hoarding disorder' in a parallel contempt of court case, for which he was given a suspended prison sentence.

Beck was due to be sentenced over his plot in Boxley Woods, to the north of Maidstone in Kent, on April 5 last year, after being convicted of breaching planning regulations.

But he turned up to the hearing at Maidstone Crown Court unrepresented by a solicitor and asked for a postponement.

He said he was unable to afford representation and was waiting on his application for Universal Credit to come through.

Another hearing has been set, where Beck faces an unlimited financial fine.

Beck previously said he had suffered '21 years of persecution by those dirty, lying, sons of b*****s (the council)' and he described the hearing as 'an invitation to a neck-tie party'.