A Merseyside skip hire boss has been ordered to pay back £250,000 after she was found to have profited from illegal waste crime.
The Environment Agency secured the confiscation order against Patricia Hills, 72, of Redfern Street, Bootle, after she was previously jailed for operating MWM Recycling Ltd illegally.
The confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act took place at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday 1 September.
Hills was given three months to pay the order or she faces up to three years in jail. She was also ordered to pay £25,000 costs.
The hearing followed the conviction of Hills for illegal waste activity. At Liverpool Crown Court in March 2022, she was jailed for a year and banned from being a company director for five years.
Waste crime does not pay
Jeni Brittlebank, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency, said:
This sends out a message to the industry that waste crime does not pay and not only will we hit people with court action, but we’ll hit them in the pocket.
Illegal waste operations carried out in the interests of profit are at the expense of the environment, put communities at risk and undermine legitimate businesses that work within the law.
We’ll continue to disrupt and take action against those operating outside the regulations.
In the original case, Mrs Hills was in control of MWM Recycling Ltd. Following an extensive investigation by the Environment Agency, the company had its environmental permit revoked after a series of breaches, and were issued with an enforcement notice to clear the land of waste.
Despite this, waste continued to be stored and illegally burned.
Hills’ son, Mark Hills, 48, of Redfern Street in Bootle, who ran the day to day site operations, was jailed for eight months.
The Environment Agency secured a confiscation order against him for £40,000 in December 2024, and this has since been paid.
