Caselaw Digest
Caselaw Digest

Gordon Anderson v R

[2022] EWCA Crim 1465
A company boss was caught breaking environmental rules by storing too much rubbish. He pleaded guilty and got a suspended prison sentence. The judge was mostly right but gave him a bit too long a ban from being a boss again, so the appeal court shortened that.

Key Facts

  • Gordon Anderson, a 67-year-old director of Paperback Collection and Recycling Limited (PCR), pleaded guilty to three environmental offences.
  • The offences involved breaches of environmental permits at two sites: Deeside and Penrhos.
  • The breaches included exceeding waste storage limits, failing to comply with fire safety regulations, and operating a facility without a permit.
  • PCR, now in liquidation, was also charged and pleaded guilty to several offences.
  • Anderson received a suspended 15-month prison sentence, 250 hours of unpaid work, and a 15-year director disqualification.
  • The total clean-up costs for the breaches exceeded £2.6 million.

Legal Principles

Sentencing guidelines for environmental offences.

Guideline for Environmental Offences

Corporate veil piercing.

Petrodel Resources Ltd v Prest [2013] UKSC 34

Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, section 2.

Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986

Environmental Protection Act 1990, sections 33(1)(a), 33(6), 34(1)(a), 34(6), 33B.

Environmental Protection Act 1990

Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, Regulations 38(1)(a), 38(2), 12(1)(a), 41.

Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

Newton Hearing principles.

R v Newton (1983) 77 Cr App R 13

Disqualification periods under Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

Re Sevenoaks Stationers (Retail) Ltd [1990] 3 WLR 1165

Outcomes

Appeal against sentence largely dismissed.

The judge's approach to sentencing was deemed correct, except for the length of the director disqualification.

15-year director disqualification reduced to 6 years.

The court considered the disqualification period to be excessive given Anderson's age, good character, guilty plea and the absence of pollution.

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