A businessman has been prosecuted after flytipped rubbish was traced back to his company.

Thomas Murrell, 44, of South Drive, Coulsdon, was fined £3,000 after pleading guilty to not preventing a flytipping incident.

Croydon Magistrates' Court heard over the weekend of March 19 and 21 2010, waste was dumped near to the premises of Jati Ltd.

One of the firm's managers reported the piles of waste to the Environment Agency.

When the Environment Agency's Crime Team reviewed the contents, they found a number of articles containing the address of a man who had legitimately employed Murrell's firm, TM Skips, to remove some waste from his deceased brothers house.

Murrell claimed the waste he had removed had been taken away by a third party, and that he was not to blame.

But he could not produce the legal documents required for transferring waste to another operator, making him responsible for it, even though he claimed he didn't dump it himself.

In addition to the fine, Murrell was ordered to pay costs and a £15 a victim surcharge.

He was also ordered to pay compensation of £5,000 to the victim as a contribution to the clear up costs.

Senior Environmental Crime Officer Steve O'Hara said: "This case shows that we will use all methods at our disposal to track down and deal with flytippers.

"Flytipping causes huge problems for local businesses and tax payers, it is expensive to remove and can blight beauty spots."