Dungiven businessman sentenced to custodial sentence at Londonderry Crown Court for Waste Offences

Trevor Mulhern (50), a former director of TJC Sand and Gravel Ltd pleaded guilty on 19th April 2024 to five charges relating to waste offences under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which occurred between 22 November 2017 and 1 November 2018.

These offences included unlawful deposit and treating of waste and waste pollution offences. His Honour Judge Rafferty sentenced Mr Mulhern to a custodial sentence of 15 months suspended for three years to run concurrently for the five waste offences.

On 22 November 2017, NIEA officers, on routine duties discovered a large deposit of waste on the site of a sand and gravel quarry located at Longland Road, Londonderry, and operated by TJC Sand and Gravel Ltd.

On 21 June 2018, the NIEA undertook an intrusive survey on the quarry site, when they identified approximately 1,377 tonnes of controlled waste in the form of trommel fines, which had been deposited on and buried in a number of areas throughout the quarry.

Trommel fines are the residual waste resulting from the processing of waste to recover and separate waste streams at commercial recycling facilities. This waste cannot be processed for any further re-use or recycling and is therefore required to be disposed of at landfill.

On 13 June 2018, NIEA officers attended a second sand and gravel quarry being operated by the same company, located at Tornoge Road, Donemana, where they identified further waste deposits.

NIEA officers later returned to the site and undertook two further intrusive surveys which identified that 68 tonnes of waste trommel fines had been buried within the site.

Following NIEA’s investigation, Mr Trevor Mulhern, a director of the limited company operating both quarry sites, was reported to the Public Prosecution Service for waste offending.