A SERIAL flytipper has received a six month suspended jail sentence and must pay costs of £2,300 after pleading guilty to dumping controlled waste.

Along with the jail sentence, which was suspended for two years, Alan Richard Yarlett, of Mill Road, Dartford, was given a curfew active between 6pm and 6am for six months.

He was also disqualified for driving for six months.

He had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of keeping controlled waste and one count of depositing controlled waste.

Yarlett was convicted of running an illegal waste transfer station while trading as Phoenix Skips in Victoria Road, Dartford.

His details were passed onto the BBC by Kent County Council for its Rogue Traders programme, which uncovers dodgy dealing.

Following information from the programme, enforcement officers monitored a site at Vauxhall Place in Lowfield Street, Dartford, which was believed to be used by Yarlett as an illegal waste transfer station.

Officers placed items in skips marked with Smart Water, a forensic coding system .

Dumped rubbish was then found at a number of sites including Rowhill Road, Wilmington, and Church Road in School Lane, Horton Kirby, which included the marked items and items which were painted with the Smart Water.

Rubbish dumps were identified at a number of sites, including Rowhill Road, Wilmington and School Lane in Horton Kirby. Yarlett was then arrested and interviewed by police in north Kent.

Leader of Dartford Council Councillor Jeremy Kite said: “We made a specific manifesto pledge to tackle flytipping and people like Yarlett should know Dartford is a no-go zone for them. It is not a victimless crime.

“Our countryside deserves protection and it will get it from me.”

Clean Kent enforcement manager Mick Ives said: “Flytipping has a negative impact on the people and environment of Kent “This conviction is a positive result which sends out a strong warning message to others who might be thinking of committing similar crimes.”

Yarlett appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on October 6.