A Norfolk waste operator has been fined £20,000 and given a 5-year criminal behaviour order (CBO) over illegal waste activity at three sites near Harleston between October 2023 and July 2024, the Environment Agency said in a 16 September 2026 announcement. David Pipe, director of D M Pipe Ltd, RRAGO Jack Leasing Ltd and RRAGO Jack Recruitment Ltd, also received a 12-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months. The total to pay is more than £36,000 including costs.

The CBO bars Pipe from involvement in business involving unlawful collection, transport, deposit, storage or processing of waste from land without a permit or licence, and requires waste from all three sites to be removed within 12 months. District judge Matthew Bone said the case was not a regulatory misunderstanding but a persistent failure over a protracted period.

Environment Agency officers first visited land known as Withersdale Hall in October 2023, seeing burning wood in a skip, waste dumped in a historic moat and large stored piles; a final inspection on 23 March 2026 showed little effort to clear the site. Enforcement team leader Lesley Robertson said the agency would not hesitate to take action. Suffolk County Council cabinet member Tristan Gale welcomed the outcome and thanked council officers and the agency.