A Yeadon company has been fined £15,000 for dumping waste on an illegal landfill site.

Bill Dyson Skip Hire and Waste Management Ltd, of Sandy Way, was also ordered to pay £1,750 in costs after being found guilty at Leeds Magistrates Court.

The Yeadon company was one of five defendants charged with offences involving the illegal landfill site which was owned by a farmer.

A total of £49,000 of fines was imposed by the court, plus costs which were payable to the Environment Agency which brought the case. All the defendants pleaded guilty.

The court heard that James Crabtree was the owner of Syke House Farm, in Barwick-in-Elmet, and had been frequently warned about allowing commercial waste to be dumped on his land in what was effectively a landfill.

Despite this he invited individuals and businesses to dispose of waste and was seen to manage the landfill by moving waste around, levelling it off and adding waste to burning fires.

The site had no waste management licence and was effectively an illegal landfill.

Mr Crabtree charged for loads dumped at the site, and because he had not paid for a waste management licence he was competing unfairly with legal landfill businesses.

The other four defendants were the individuals and businesses that were caught using the illegal landfill site.

Steve Williamson of the Environment Agency said: "This case was a flagrant breach of the law, and despite being warned on several occasions that he was in breach of the waste management legislation Mr Crabtree continued to operate this illegal landfill.

"Not only was the site unlicensed and without any features that would protect the environment, but on scientifically assessing the site location we discovered that it was in a particularly vulnerable area.

"The landfill was built on a natural source of water, and the wastes dumped there could have released a cocktail of chemicals into the environment as they broke down.

"We will not hesitate to take the appropriate actions aga-inst those who flout the waste legislation, especially those who do it with such a total disregard for the environment."

James Norman Crabtree of Syke House Farm, Potterton Lane, Barwick-in-Elmet, Leeds was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000.

Leeds Surfacing Contra-ctors Ltd, of Deb House, Middlewoods Way, Wharncliffe Business Park, Carlton Barns-ley was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,750.

Bill Dyson Skip Hire and Waste Management Ltd, 25-29 Sandy Way, Yeadon, Leeds was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,750.

Roy Wilkinson, Leadmill Farm, Saxton Tadcaster was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,750.

Jonathon Finan of 63 Barley Hill Road, Garforth, Leeds was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000.