Fly-tipper tries to blame imaginary twin brother for tyre dumping, say council

Paul Henry gave council staff old addresses to 'divert' their investigation

Paul Henry dumped 14 tyres in a lay-by in Nottingham (Getty)

A fly-tipper accused of dumping 14 tyres in a lay-by tried to blame an imaginary twin brother for the crime, a council in Nottingham have said.

Paul Henry from Harmston Rise, Nottingham, was seen abandoning the tyres in Mapperley in February last year.

The 52-year-old was questioned by Gedling Borough Council wardens and claimed an identical twin brother was responsible, the authority said.

An investigation into the incident took nearly 10 months partly due to Henry giving staff old addresses in an attempt to “divert” them.

Henry denied fly-tipping but was found guilty and sentenced at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court last week.

Henry has been ordered to pay £460 in costs, £250 to clean up the waste and a £60 victim surcharge.

In September, a Freedom of Information request from the Press Association revealed the number of fly-tipping incidents rose for the second consecutive year in 2014-15, with 529,462 cases across 201 councils recorded.

The clean-up cost totalled more than £16.2m in 2014-15, across the 144 councils that gave financial data.

Additional reporting by Press Association