A professional polluter who illegally dumped piles of waste shipped from a Watford waste disposal site has received a record prison sentence.

“Career criminal” Harvey Gibson was jailed for 32 months and ordered to pay £20,000 after admitting illegally dumping and burning 85 tonnes of rubbish in a field and a disused quarry.

View a surviellience video of a lorry dumping waste

Gibson, who has twice been declared bankrupt, masterminded his shameful scam while he was manager of GD Massey & Sons, in Chalk Hill.

The 45-year-old also pleaded guilty to managing the Watford-based waste disposal company while disqualified from trading.

His sentencing, at Reading Crown Court on Friday, followed a two-year, multi-agency investigation, codenamed “Operation Sentinel”.

The court heard between 2004 and 2006 Gibson collected rubbish from businesses and shops in Watford, Hertfordshire, north London and across the Home Counties.

It was then taken to his Watford site, near Bushey Arches, before being trucked to a Berkshire quarry and a field in Chalfont St Giles, where the waste was illegally burned or buried.

Investigators from the Environment Agency found large quantities of commercial waste in the pits.

A “significant proportion” of the waste dumped in Berkshire was then traced back to Watford.

In total, 85 tonnes of dumped waste, including solvents, batteries and plastic, has since been removed from the two sites, much of which polluted local water supplies. Diggers are still working to remove more.

Gibson was caught following an undercover Environment Agency investigation.

Judge Risius said: “You organised illegal but profitable dumping and put the public at real risk. The motive was obviously financial and also gave you an advantage over your competitors.

"You have a complete disregard for anything you see as an inconvenience.

“You have little regard for the law. It’s an apt phrase the prosecution used – you are a ‘professional polluter’.”

Gibson managed GD Massey & Sons Ltd despite previous convictions and a six-month jail sentence for managing a company while disqualified.

Until he took over the management the company it had been a legitimate, licensed waste management facility. It is now in liquidation.

Gibson has previously convictions for dumping waste illegally in Kings Langley, this year, and in Bricket Wood, in 2000.

He also has convictions for offences involving violence, including ABH and possession of offensive weapons.

Environment Agency officer Rod Gould, who coordinated the investigation, said the operation had been “big, bad and nasty”.

Mr Gould said: “Today’s decision by the court is the culmination of a four-year effort to ensure Harvey Gibson is held accountable for his crimes.”

He added: “He was a serious, well-organised, career criminal who made environmental crime his professional business, with no regard for current or future generations.

“These crimes were committed for pure financial gain, undermining legitimate business and with absolutely no regard for the public, despite full knowledge of the risks of burning waste and burying it on top of an aquifer which supplies public drinking water.“