Gang leader fined thousands

Hugh O'Donnell is caught illegally dumping waste Credit: Environment Agency

A gang leader who ran a massive illegal waste site has been ordered to pay back almost a million pounds. Hugh O'Donnell was jailed for four years last June for dumping waste the size of five football pitches at Aldermaston in Berkshire. A handgun and other weapons were found among the rubbish. The 64 year old has been warned he faces another four and half years in jail if he doesn't pay up.

Isleworth Crown Court jailed O’Donnell, 64, and his two accomplices Robert Evans, 62, and Peter Lavelle, 28, all of Reading, for running a multi-million pound waste crime business from a site in the Berkshire town. The Environment Agency says that the £917,000 Hugh O'Donnell has been ordered to pay is the biggest proceeds of crime order ever secured by the organisation against 1 individual.