During a trial, for sustained fly tipping over a long period, forestry expert Tim Saunders changed his plea of not guilty, to one of guilty.
Tried in Hove County Court, Saunders, from Wittersham, finally pleaded guilty to three charges of dumping controlled waste in private woodland at Barnet's Hill, Peasmarsh and allowing others to do the same.
The waste included items such as asbestos, barbed wire refrigerators and tyres Investigating officials also found an unspecified black liquid about four feet down, that caused them to feel ill, it was stated.
It was also alleged that Saunders charged to removed rubbish that he subsequently dumped on the site and also was paid by others to allow them to use the site as a dump.
Saunders did not own the land himself, and had been engaged by the woodland's owner to carry out other legitimate forestry work, but between 2009 and 2015 had dumped, and allowed others to dump substantial quantities of waste. The jury were shown satellite photographs of the area indicating that what had initially been a forestry track had been turned into a deforested area of wasteland.
Following his change of plea, Saunders was given a suspended sentence of two years in prison, fined £1,000 and ordered to do 200 hours of community service.
