Record Jail Sentence for Lighting Recycling Fraudster

A Leeds businessman has received a record jail sentence of seven-and-a-half years over a £2.2m recycling fraud.

Terence Solomon Dugbo, 45, of High Ash Avenue, Leeds, was sentenced on Friday 15 July at Leeds Crown Court following a major Environment Agency investigation and seven-week trial. This is a record sentence for an environmental crime.

Investigating officers discovered that Dugbo had falsified paperwork to illegitimately claim that his Leeds-based firm TLC Recycling Ltd had collected and recycled more than 19,500 tonnes of household lamps and electrical waste during 2011. In reality, Dugbo’s company had never handled the amounts of waste described, and he was not entitled to the substantial recycling fees he was paid.