A Harrow man dubbed ‘the lord of the fly-tips’ has been handed a 12 month suspended prison term for two years and a 12 month driving ban.

Philip Cash, 65, of Alexandra Avenue, Harrow, will be electronically tagged for 16 weeks as a condition of his suspended sentence handed to him at Hendon magistrates court on November 24.

He admitted responsibility for five separate illegal dumps committed between November 2015 and June 2016. He also pleaded guilty to two lesser offences of failing to comply with a duty of care to dispose of waste properly.

A curfew placed on Cash will require him to remain home between 9pm and 6am.

He was also ordered to pay £5,990 in costs, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and has had the vehicle he used for the crimes seized by the police.

Cash earned hundreds of pounds posing as a legitimate waste management professional, looking for business by going door-to-door and assuring householders that their rubbish would be disposed of legally.

However, Cash dumped a total of four and a half tonnes of waste including furniture, plasterboard, rubble and a large number of black bin bags, at different locations across Harrow.

Earlier this year, Cash collected two sofas and a TV from houses on Brooke Avenue in Harrow, before dumping them just minutes later on the same street.

In 2014, Cash was prosecuted by Watford magistrates and fined £1,100 for failing to ensure that waste in his care was transferred to an appropriate person for disposal, after a quantity of building materials was found dumped in a lane in Bushey.

His second conviction came In August 2016, when Cash was caught by a surveillance camera dumping a mattress and other waste in a country lane in Buckinghamshire.

Cllr Graham Henson, who has a Cabinet responsibility for environmental crimes, said: “Mr Cash was the lord of the fly-tips in west London – but we’ve brought his criminal career to a close.

“He’s the biggest catch of the year in the fight against filth. Fly-tipping is a national blight and Harrow’s taking the lead in making criminals like Mr Cash pay for the misery they cause.

"If you dump in our back yard, you will get caught, and you will pay the price.”