A man who cold-called people to pick up their waste and then "flagrantly and deliberately" dumped it around Watford has been jailed for 13 months.

Lee Taylor, 30, from Bushey admitted nine separate offences of flytipping dating back to April 2013 at St Albans Crown Court on Tuesday.

He also had two other offences of flytipping in Watford taken into account when he was sentenced to a total of 13 months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 12 months.  

Judge Baker QC, sentencing, said: "Taylor is a registered waste carrier who over a substantial period of time went out looking for waste and flagrantly and deliberately flytipped it, he failed to heed previous warnings, these acts were too serious to consider anything other than immediate custodial sentence." 

Mr Taylor operated by cold-calling residents and offering to remove household items and garden waste, often charging up to £150 in cash for the service.

He then dumped what had been collected at various sites, including private residences, garage blocks and industrial land close to Farm Terrace.  

Elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: "Ensuring Watford remains clean and tidy is an absolute priority. Giving waste to a cold caller might seem like a cheap and easy solution; but if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. 

"Many local residents came forward to give evidence for this case and the community owes them a big thanks.

"By standing up for what’s right, they have played a huge part in the borough securing this victory. Officers and myself would like to thank them for their support."

In addition to the conviction for flytipping, Watford Borough Council applied for a confiscation order for Mr Taylor’s truck, which he used for his flytipping.

The vehicle had already been seized when he was caught flytipping in May 2014.

The judge granted the order and the vehicle will be crushed. His conviction details have also been passed to the Environment Agency to revoke his waste carriers certificate.