TAGGED.. FOR FLY-TIPPING 16 TONS IN JUST 1 NIGHT

A COWBOY builder has be en electronically tagged - after he dumped 16 tons of rubbish in one load.

Alan Edmeades cannot go out between 8pm and 8am - the hours favoured by fly-tippers - and must wear the tag so police can keep a check on his movements.

He is one of the first fly-tippers to be given a curfew for the crime, which costs pounds 100million a year to clear up.

Edmeades, 52, dumped the building rubbish outside a village church under cover of darkness one night.

But council officials sifted through the debris, which included soil, wood and rubble, and found building site plans and architects' drawings. They showed developments in Liverpool and South London where Edmeades had worked.

Edmeades admitted dumping the rubbish on a service road in front of St Andrew's Church in Kingswood, near Reigate, Surrey, last November. The four-month curfew means he cannot leave his home during the designated times without police knowing about it. Edmeades, of Mitcham, Surrey, was ordered to pay pounds 1,900 costs. Magistrates told him he had narrowly escaped a jail sentence.

Latest figures show there were more than 2.6million incidents of fly-tipping over the last 12 months - up five percent on the previous year.

Fly-tipping can lead to fines of up to pounds 50,000 and a six- month jail sentence.

Keep Britain Tidy spokeswoman Emma Brennan said: "It's good to see that councils are taking a strong stand."

Joan Spiers, of Reigate and Banstead Council, which brought the prosecution, said: "This case should serve as a warning to others."

FACT: Dumping illegally costs the a year to clear up UK pounds 100million

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