A FUGITIVE waste firm boss has been handed a 12 month jail sentence for illegally stockpiling more than 700 tonnes of wood.

Tom McCabe pleaded guilty to breaching Environment Agency regulations at his Uckfield waste wood site at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

McCabe went on the run after dumping more 1,200 tonnes of waste wood he was illegally storing for profit.

As well as a prison sentence, the 32-year-old, of Sea Lane in Worthing, is facing £3,000 legal costs and 200 hours community service.

In January 2012, McCabe set up waste company Matrix Bio Logistics specialising in the storage and processing of waste wood with his partner Kim Box.

The Environment Agency granted McCabe a permit exemption for the company’s leased site at the Squires Industrial Estate in Easons Green, Uckfield, but with strict conditions, limiting the firm from storing more than 500 tonnes of wood waste in any seven day period.

Just four weeks after the permit was granted, the amount of waste wood stored on site was more than 1,200 tonnes and a notice was served by the Environment Agency requiring McCabe to clear the site.

He ignored it, sold the company for a £1 and went on the run.

While Environment Agency specialist crime officers continued to trace his whereabouts, his partner Miss Box was sentenced at Hove Crown Court in July 2015 to a 12-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work.

His Honour Judge Hayward acknowledged Miss Box was not the main operator of the business and that all efforts should be made to find McCabe as he was “a crook”.

McCabe was eventually apprehended by Heathrow police officers at the departure gate trying to board a plane to Dubai.

The responsibility to clear the site of the huge pile of wood left by McCabe now falls to the landowners and will cost them up to £200,000 to remove all the waste.

Ian Walton of the Environment Agency said: “I am pleased with the verdict as this case sends a clear message to unscrupulous waste operators that crime does not pay and we will take all measures to ensure offenders face justice.

“As a result of his activities, Mr McCabe left a huge mountain of waste behind which has been a serious blight on the local community.”

Whilst passing the custodial sentence, His Honour Judge Hayward said: “This was an appalling tale and took place with no thought for the landowner. He leased the land, took money for the waste and then evaded detection.”