First UK Port Faces Confiscation Order

In the first ever confiscation order to have been obtained in the UK against a port authority, Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners has been hit under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The Port, in Northern Ireland and Foyle Recyclers - and one of its directors - were also fined a total of £14,000 for illegal waste offences at Londonderry Crown Court this week.

The Derry Port and Harbour Commissioners was fined £3,000, Foyle Recyclers was fined a total of £10,000 for four breaches of waste management legislation and one of its directors, Sinead O'Hara, was fined £1,000.

During previous confiscation proceedings in relation to benefit from criminal conduct each party was made the subject of a Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners Order was for £56,300.39, Foyle Recyclers Order was for £60,000 and Sinead O'Hara's Order was for £28,302.27.

The charges were brought under the Waste and Contaminated Land Order (NI) 1997 to which each party had pleaded guilty in December 2009.

The case was the subject of an investigation by officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency regarding the operation of an unlicensed scrap yard at premises owned by Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners between November 2006 and November 2007.

The Judge said had there been any evidence of pollution, the fines would have been a lot heavier.

He also said he accepted that the case involved a complex planning issue, but all three defendants should have obeyed the law when they were warned about the illegal nature of their activities.

(BMcC/GK)