A farmer in Northern Ireland has been sentenced today (Friday, October 2, 2026) at Newry Crown Court for breaches of waste legislation.

John Baird (61) of Dublin Road, Banbridge Baird was given six months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The offences related to the unauthorised keeping of controlled waste at two sites he controlled located in the vicinity of Dublin Road and Bog Road, Banbridge.

On February 2, 2023 the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) received a report of a large number of End of Life Vehicles located on lands off the Dublin and Bog Roads, Banbridge.

On February 21, 2023 NIEA conducted a site inspection on both these areas of land.

They observed hundreds of end of life vehicles and hundreds of tonnes of controlled waste, namely: scrap metals; car parts; mixed plastic waste; used wood and some used household goods spread across a number of fields, within trailers and surrounding buildings.

NIEA contacted the occupier, John Baird and issued an Article 27 notice requiring him to remediate the controlled waste.

On October 3, 2024 NIEA Officers conducted a site inspection and observed that the vast majority of the controlled waste had not been removed.

NIEA estimated that only between 20-30% of the controlled waste including only some of the End of Life Vehicles had been removed legally from these sites.

On August 28, 2026 NIEA carried out a full inspection of lands in the vicinity of Dublin Road and Bog Road, Banbridge and deemed that John Baird had remediated the lands as was previously required of him.

Court sentence for waste offences

A NIEA spokesperson said: "This represents a significant positive outcome insofar as the law has been upheld and a conviction secured.

"However, importantly, the waste has also been removed at the expense of the defendant [landowner].

"This means that the environment has been protected without significant cost to the taxpayer."

Baird previously pleaded guilty at Banbridge Magistrates Court sitting at Newry in November 2025 to two counts of unauthorised keeping of controlled waste contrary to the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

He pleaded guilty under the following Article of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997: Two x Article 4(1)(b) relating to: the keeping of controlled waste, or knowingly keeping controlled waste in or on any land except under and in accordance with a waste management licence.

Today, he was handed down a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.