Fly-tipper told “sell your house” to pay back the proceeds of his crimes

Piggott was jailed for two years in 2019 for persistent dumping in Rotherham and elsewhere — and a judge told him this week to pay up or be sent down again.

The fly-tipping menace and son Deano were prosecuted by Rotherham Council for illegally leaving waste on country lanes in Rotherham, north-east Derbyshire and the surrounding area.

RMBC used covert cameras and tracked waste back to residents and businesses as part of their large-scale investigation.

The council said it had carried out what was thought at the time was the largest seizure of vehicles associated with fly-tipping in the UK — confiscating 15 from Horace and Deano during their probe.

The Piggotts extracted and sold valuables such as scrap metal from the waste they collected and any proceeds went through the bank account of a third defendant, Johanna Galvin.

Horace Piggott (69), who admitted fly-tipping and fraud offences, was ordered to pay £134,073 after he was found to have benefited by that amount through his criminal conduct.

He has been given three months to pay or be jailed for 15 months.

Ms Laura Marshall, prosecuting, said Piggott would have to sell a house at auction to raise the money.

Deano, who also admitted fly-tipping offences and was handed a 12-month community order, was found to have benefited by £4,196 and ordered to pay that sum within three months or be jailed for the same period.

Ms Marshall said he had already paid £2,830 to RMBC.

Galvin (33) was given an eight-month jail term, suspended for a year, in 2019 for money laundering connected to the operation.

A hearing in April found that she had made £61,759 but could not pay the amount. She was ordered to pay the nominal sum of £1.

All three defendants live at Long Acre View, a caravan site in Holbrook, Sheffield.

Addressing the Piggotts, Judge Roger Thomas said: “There’s quite a bit of money here that you’re going to have to pay.

“That’s the consequence of what you have done.

“If you don’t get it paid, you’re going to end up in prison.”

Judge Thomas said Rotherham taxpayers would be out of pocket because of the cost of prosecuting the Piggotts.

The law firm representing Horace and Deano Piggott — Appleby, Hope and Matthews — was ordered to pay £1,708 for failing to respond to communication from the prosecution.

Judge Thomas said it was a “substantial and unusual step” to order costs against the firm representing the defendants.

“It is woeful, and so woeful that I am persuaded to make this order,” he said.