Father and son fly-tippers ordered to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds from ill-gotten gains

Horace Piggott, also known as “Caesar”, was sentenced to two years of custody after pleading guilty to multiple waste offences and fraud at Sheffield Crown Court in December, 2019, and his son Deano Piggott was given a 12 month community order with rehabilitation and 120 hours’ unpaid work for fly-tipping offences.

But 69-year-old Horace and 38-year-old Deano, both of Long Acre View, Holbrook, Sheffield, were back at Sheffield Crown Court on November 9 for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing to recover some of the pair’s ill-gotten gains which will go to Home Office and police coffers.

Judge Roger Thomas ordered Horace Piggott to pay £134,074.56 within three months or he will face another 15 months of custody.

He also ordered Deano Piggott to pay £4,196.32 within the same period or he will face a three-month custodial sentence. Deano Piggott must also pay £7,150 in costs.

Judge Thomas told them: “There is quite a lot of money to pay but that is the consequence. You need to get it paid or you are going to end up back in prison.”

The court previously heard North East Derbyshire District Council had carried out investigations with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council which revealed the scale of Horace Piggott’s former fraudulent business over multiple counties for many years.

Horace Piggott had distributed leaflets in the Sheffield and Rotherham areas advertising a waste collection service under a false name and address, according to the court, and waste was collected and dumped at multiple sites across Sheffield, Rotherham and Bolsover.

The councils revealed that their officers retrieved evidence from waste, obtained CCTV footage and interviewed witnesses.

Horace Piggott had also received a 10-year criminal behaviour order making it an offence for him to be involved in any waste activities, and further vehicles were seized from him which were linked to fly-tipping.

During the POCA hearing, Judge Thomas said that despite the agreed figures the authorities concerned would still be left substantially out of pocket.

He also ordered Horace Piggott and Deano Piggott’s solicitors to pay £1,708 in wasted costs due to administrative delays which will have left an “intolerable cost” to rate-payers.