A man who dumped rubbish at a beauty spot was caught out by city council enforcement officers.

Matthew Merry, who runs East Kent Waste Management Ltd, has been ordered to pay more than £3,000 after he collected rubbish from a builder in Herne Bay and from a property services company and was paid to take it away.

The 43-year-old, of Querns Place in Canterbury, then dumped both loads at Swanton Lane in Littlebourne - an area enjoyed by walkers.

He pleaded guilty at Canterbury Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, April 11, to breaching the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Head of safer communities at Canterbury City Council, Doug Rattray, said: "Our enforcement officers are determined to do all they can to catch flytippers and issue them with a fixed penalty notice or bring them before the courts.

"This offence was made worse by the fact Merry knew the law and his responsibilities but did it anyway to make money for his fledgling business. On this occasion, he had issued his customers with waste transfer notices which protected them from prosecution.

"If you pay someone to take your waste away, you must check the credentials of your waste carrier otherwise you could be fined as well. If the price is too good to be true, it probably is."

Merry told the court he had only flytipped waste on two occasions and had complied with his licence up until that point, has no previous convictions and has since given up running his business to take a job that pays the minimum wage.