A company boss accused of dumping 27 tonnes of untreated waste on a country lane has today pleaded not guilty to nine offences.
A row of houses in the village of Curborough near Lichfield found itself cut off after the dump blocked access during the night of 19 January.
Lichfield District Council, who cleared up the mess at a cost of £10,000, brought a prosecution against Darren Sheen, a director of Fusion Engineering, after investigating the origins of the two metre (8ft) high pile.
Today, 40-year-old Sheen from Uttoxeter, wearing a dark blue shirt, dark blue tie and navy trousers denied nine offences from the dock of Stafford Crown Court.
These included depositing controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health, failure to transfer waste to an authorized person and willful obstruction of a highway.
Each offence was laid against the company and against Sheen in his capacity as a director.
He also faced one solo charge of dangerous driving.
His trial will not take place until 8 March 2027.
The fly-tip cut residents in the hamlet off because the other end of the lane had been been closed for roadworks
Darren Sheen, pictured at a previous hearing, pleaded not guilty to nine offences this morning at Stafford Crown Court
The waste was dumped overnight on a country lane serving around a dozen homes
Judge Avik Mukherjee apologized to Sheen and the court for the lengthy delay in proceedings.
‘I can only apologise. This is a relatively small court centre dealing with a large amount of work,’ he said.
Judge Mukherjee ordered a pre-trial review take place on June 29 2026. Both sides will be calling in expert evidence to support their claims.
Prosecutor Mark Jackson said that a reconstruction had recently been carried out seeking to show that the amount of waste could have been deposited within the time frame.
Following January’s fly-tip, Lichfield District Council was left with the task of clearing up the huge dump which measured two metres (8ft) high and more than 20 metres (65ft) long.
The dump effectively cut off the hamlet of Curborough, as it was already inaccessible from the other direction due to roadworks connected to the constrution of a new housing estate.
It meant residents could only leave the hamlet by foot.
Sheen was told his trial could not take place until March 2027
The eight-foot-high mound of rotting waste took 38 hours to clear up
The clear up took Lichfield District Council 38 hours to complete at a cost of over £10,000.
Their Environmental Health officers immediately began an investigation which ended up seizing a lorry believed to have been used in the incident on March 21.
The compacted rubbish included building rubble, fencing, vast amounts of plastic as well as shoes, a hairdryer and at least two England flags.
It spanned virtually the entire width of Watery Lane, leaving room only to edge past the mess on foot.
