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06 Sept 2025

Two men jailed for their roles in Derry's Mobuoy superdump

Paul Doherty and Gérard Farmer were jailed following charges relating to the contaminated Mobuoy dump at Campsie

Mobuoy toxins reaching Faughan

Mobuoy is one of Europe's biggest illegal dumps

Reporter:

Court Reporter

06 Jun 2025 4:37 PM

Email:

news@derrynow.com

Two men have been jailed at Derry Crown Court for their part in what a judge described as 'a systemic pattern of established behaviour to facilitate industrial level environmental crime' in relation to illegal dumping at Mobuoy Road.
Paul Doherty (66) of Culmore Road and Gérard Farmer (58) of Westlake both in Derry had pleaded guilty to a series of waste management offences that occurred on dates between January 1, 2011 and July 4, 2013 in Doherty's case and July 1, 2007 and August 5, 2013 in Farmer's case.
The court was told that while the exact tonnage of waste was disputed it ran to hundreds of thousands of tonnes and the value would be somewhere around £30 million in 'relevant landfill charges and taxes'.
It was said that much of the illegal dumping took place on land owned by Farmer and on adjacent land owned by Doherty.
Judge Neil Rafferty KC said Doherty received 'financial reward largely in the form of cash payments. '
The bulk of the waste was household waste which the court heard is 'highly polluting'.
The judge said that the remedial costs to put right the dumping were also disputed 'it is quite clear that significant public expenditure has been incurred and will continue to be incurred.'
Judge Rafferty said that emails showed that Farmer had 'full knowledge of what he was doing and was actively engaged in covering up the criminality at the site.'
The court heard that the emails also 'leave little doubt about the nature of the financial arrangement' involving Doherty.
The judge said that while there was dispute over the exact tonnage 'it is clear that the quantity of waste across both sites is very significant'.
A report on Doherty said he was 'remorseful' and denied any financial gain but Judge Rafferty rejected this.
The report on Farmer noted he believed he should have paid more attention to what was going on but again the judge said the emails contradicted that.
The court heard that to date monitoring and remedial measures costing £6.5 million had already been undertaken but this figure would increase.
Passing sentence Judge Rafferty said this was 'a purely economically motivated environmental crime on an industrial scale' and he sentenced Doherty to 12 months immediate custody and Farmer to 21 months
The judge concluded: "The time has long since passed where those who commit environmental crime motivated by greed can expect to walk free from the consequences of their actions."

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