Dumping rubbish in a forest has cost a Sudbury man over £700 in fines, costs and compensation.

David Green pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates Court to fly tipping on forest land in the High Beech area of the forest.

The offence took place early last month and the magistrates ordered him to pay a fine of £320, costs of £260 and compensation of £100 along with a victim surcharge of £32.

The City of London Corporation brought the prosecution and Philip Woodhouse, the chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Epping Forest Committee, said the crime was “completely unacceptable” and welcomed the case which came before the court.

He said: “These prosecutions show how seriously we take fly-tipping in Epping Forest. Even leaving small amounts of rubbish at any of our sites of special scientific interest or helping others to do so, is completely unacceptable. We will always prosecute those who think it can be used as a dumping ground.”

High Beech is a village inside Epping Forest and is located approximately 11 miles north east of central London. It is the only settlement inside Epping Forest and falls within the civil parish of Waltham Abbey.

The City of London Corporation offers a £500 reward to people who can provide evidence which leads to a prosecution for fly tipping.

Epping Forest bosses are encouraging the public to dial 020 8532 1010 if they can help with information that stops fly tipping.

The City Corporation cleans up an average of 600 fly tips and 300 tonnes of rubbish every year in Epping Forest at a cost of £250,000. This is money which could be spent on managing the forest. Volunteers spend over 7,000 hours a year collecting litter in Epping Forest.

Epping Forest is London and Essex’s largest open space, attracting 4.2 million visits a year. It has over one million trees, some of which are up to 1,000 years old – including 50,000 ancient pollards of beech, hornbeam and oak.

The City of London Corporation manages over 11,000 acres of green space across London and south east England, including Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath and Burnham Beeches, with many of its sites designated national nature reserves and sites of special scientific Iiterest for their unique ecology and rare plant species.