Matthew Kerruish-Jones successfully defends prosecution brought under the Environmental Protection Act 1990

Matthew Kerruish-Jones was instructed to defend Lukasz Mika who was prosecuted by Dover District Council under s.34(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The case concerned allegations of “fly-tipping” where items linked to Mr Mika’s property were found disposed of on different sites in Kent. He was accused of breaching his duty of care in failing to ensure that that any building waste from a property he was renovating was properly secured or transferred by an authorised waste disposal contractor.

The nature of the case was unusual as Mr Mika’s father in law, who only spoke Polish and was “doing his son in law a favour” had been approached by persons offering to take some of the waste away for cash. Money changed hands and the waste was taken away with no anticipation that any of it would be fly-tipped.

The defence successfully argued that Mr Mika had not breached his duty of care in that it was not reasonable to expect Mr Mika to have had the foresight to instruct his father in law to not pay someone to take away the waste. Similarly, there was no finding that Mr Mika should have secured his building waste as alleged. A defence costs order was also obtained.

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