Company director jailed over major waste fires – Dan Thomas prosecutes for Environment Agency

The director of three waste management firms involved in major fires in Stockport and Salford has been jailed.

Barry Kilroe, the Director of J25 Recycling Limited, Recovered Fuels Shipping Limited, and Asset & Land Group Limited, admitted ten charges relating to waste management.

A waste fire in Bredbury, Stockport, in 2013, burned for 41 days temporarily closing the M60 motorway. Another blaze in Salford, in 2014, lasted 19 days causing widespread problems for Network Rail. He had been previously been prosecuted for offences which culminated in a fire at the Stockport site, in 2011. The clean up costs for two of the sites exceeded, on a conservative estimate, £5million.

Kilroe was sentenced to 15 months at Manchester Minshull Crown Court.

The Environment Agency said both fires were caused by mismanagement of the sites and this was one if the biggest ever convictions of its kind.

Dan Thomas was instructed by the Environment Agency in both prosecutions of Mr. Kilroe and his companies. This second case was a consolidated prosecution of three cases, involving three companies and three sites. Complex expert evidence from leading accountants, fire safety consultants and water pollution academics formed part of the Prosecution case.

The sentencing exercise closely followed the practical guidance laid down by the Lord Chief Justice in R. v. Thelwall, (in which Dan appeared at first instance), with limited reliance upon Friskies Schedules and with the judge issuing straight forward sentencing remarks based upon a careful consideration of the Sentencing Guidelines after presiding over a hearing that took place over 2 days.

Dan is a member of the Attorney’s General “Regulatory List” and is Junior Counsel to the Crown in civil matters. In addition to his work for the regulators, Dan advises companies and individuals in both civil and criminal proceedings arising out of environmental legal issues.