BROTHERS Lee and David Averies have been spared jail despite one of their waste sites in Swindon burning for two months.

Lee, 47, was today given a suspended prison sentence at Swindon Crown Court while David, 39, faces a bill of £54,000.

Lee was also made subject to a criminal behaviour order, similar to an Asbo, banning him from working in the business for five years.

And David has been disqualified from being a company director for three years.

Lee may suffer a similar fate at a future hearing in relation to companies he ran going into liquidation, something the judge said he supported.

The orders were made as the pair were sentenced for the way they ran their companies in the run up to the big fires at Brindley Close and Marshgate in 2013 and 2014.

Having been told before he changed his plea to guilty that he wouldn't go to jail, Lee was handed a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.

Meanwhile David, who it was accepted played a lesser role, was fined £4,208 and ordered to pay £50,000 costs.

Lee, who has offered to pay £25,000 towards costs, is being pursued under the Proceeds of Crime Act. As a result any financial penalties against him and his company Calne Aggregate Holdings Ltd will be decided at a hearing next year.

Both pleaded guilty at a hearing on September 30 to breaching environmental regulations at their Swindon waste sites – Swindon Skips at Brindley Close and Averies Recycling Swindon, Marshgate.

Lee admitted three offences against the Environment Protection Act, David two and Calne Aggregate Holdings - of which Lee is a director - one at their site in Calne.

Passing sentence Judge Sir John Royce, sitting at Swindon Crown Court, said: "The Marshgate fire was an extremely serious one. It lasted for no less than 57 days.

"It was the longest continuous operation that Wiltshire Fire Service ever had to engage in.

"The harm it caused is vividly described by a large number of witnesses whose lives and businesses were seriously interfered with.

"It caused distress, anger, disruption and inconvenience. The victim impact statement are clear testament to that."

Imposing the suspended sentence the judge pointed out it costs tens of thousands of pounds to keep 'serious villains', which Lee is not, behind bars.

He said that Lee's culpability had been at the high end of reckless, but short of deliberate, and David's was negligent.

The judge also said Lee's previous convictions for similar offences at Marshgate in 2013 and in 2009, which included burying asbestos, made things worse for him.

The judge said he took on board the men's expressions of remorse and the fact that David was now out of the waste business and Lee wanted to get out.

The criminal behaviour order, a breach of which could lead to a five-year jail sentence, bans Lee Averies from working in a business primarily concerned in waste.

In his sentencing remarks the judge read excerpts from a number of victim impact statements from businesses which had to close as a result of the fires.

They said that businesses and a school had to close because of smoke and ash, costing them thousands.

Trains also had been slowed past Brindley Close for three days, at a cost of £10,000, and the Marshgate blaze cost the fire service an estimated £157,000.

At Brindley Close more than 750 tonnes of wood and waste caught fire and burned for a week in November 2013.

The company and director Lee Averies was ordered to clear the site of 7,000 tonnes of rubbish but the firm went into liquidation because of outstanding liabilities. It meant that landlord Swindon Borough Council, was lumbered with the clear up cost of about £700,000.

The Marshgate blaze stretched the Environment Agency as well as the fire service to the limit - 90 staff were involved in the two-month fire, affecting the agencies other work.

The agency also had to dip into the public purse to fund private contractors as part of the clean-up operation that followed.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service welcomed the sentences handed down. 

Area manager Ian Jeary said: "It shows that rogue traders who continually flout the law will be brought to justice and the Averies brothers have paid a serious and a heavy price for their criminal activity.

"We thank the residents and businesses of Swindon. We know that they endured great hardship and loss when the fire was on in Marshgate.

“Both fires in Swindon had a significant impact on the local communities due to the acrid smoke, and both could have been avoided had the site owners complied with the requirements of their Environment Agency permits.

“The Marshgate fire was an extraordinary incident, impacting on the whole of the Fire and Rescue Service and requiring an unprecedented attendance on scene."

Due to the amount of waste stored at Marshgate there was not room for effective firefighting.

Despite requests to Averies Recycling Swindon to clear part of the site - followed by enforcement notices from the Environment Agency for the same purpose - waste was only moved once the agency was able to appoint contractors to remove 3,000 tonnes of waste to landfill sites.

Mr Jeary said: "It was extremely frustrating to see the blaze continuing to burn when we had identified at the very outset what would be required to allow us to put it out.

“Dealing with this fire was a partnership effort between us, the Environment Agency, Swindon Borough Council and others.

"We all had the same commitment to resolving the incident as quickly as possible and, while it did take longer than many people would have liked, we were successful and we have seen justice being delivered by today’s sentencing, which rightly reflects the severity of the offences and the impact on others.

"Hopefully this will send a warning that criminal behaviour without thought or care to local communities will not go unpunished.

“I would once again like to thank the local community for its support and forbearance during what was undoubtedly a difficult and often unpleasant time for them.

"They can also be assured that regulatory authorities will pursue companies and individuals of the like of Lee and David Averies and bring them to justice. Hopefully this has gone some way to redress the loss and harm that they suffered.

"All of the agencies have sought to learn lessons from this fire, and we are already carrying out joint visits with the Environment Agency to sites such as Marshgate to try and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.”