By Kelly Ashmore

Copyright birminghammail

An ‘utterly disgusting’ unlicensed waste carrier has been fined hundreds of pounds for dumping rubbish on graves at a city church. City of Wolverhampton Council branded the fly-tipping ‘unimaginable’ and said the culprit, Damian Maiden, showed ‘a sheer lack of respect’. Maiden promoted his services as a waste carrier on social media when he was contacted by a Bushbury Hill resident to pick up waste from their property. READ MORE: Jail for ‘bullish’ man who chanted ‘who the f**k is Allah’ during city centre riot But after charging a fee to remove the items, Maiden dumped them across a number of graves at Holy Trinity Church, Heath Town. Church officials found the mess, which included piles of bags, furniture and clothes, on the morning of November 15, 2024. The church arranged for the waste to be removed and disposed of correctly and reported the incident to the council’s environmental crime team. Officers found evidence in the dumped waste, and were able to track down phone messages between Maiden and the resident, plus doorbell camera footage of him collecting the waste. Maiden was issued with a notice requiring waste transfer notes for his removals business. However when he failed to comply and, it became clear he was not a registered waste carrier at the time of the incident. Maiden, of Jonesfield Crescent, Eastfield, later pleaded guilty to one charge under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and one under the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 at Dudley Magistrates’ Court on July 30. The court was told Maiden was not working and in receipt of benefits. He was ordered to pay £948 in fines and costs for the first charge under the Environmental Protection Act of failing to provide waste transfer notes. No separate penalty was imposed for the second charge. Costs awarded to the council will be reinvested back into its environmental crime service. The church also received a £100 Enjoy Wolverhampton gift card for providing evidence under the council’s Shop a Tipper scheme. Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, Wolverhampton’s cabinet member for resident services, said: “Dumping waste is bad enough, but having the sheer lack of respect to leave it scattered across graves in the grounds of a church is utterly disgusting. “What anybody must be thinking to do this is unimaginable to me – as I’m sure it is to the vast majority of residents in our city. “This is a disgraceful example of the problem the council is facing, and it just makes us more determined to tackle the people who do it. “I would also like to use this case to encourage any residents who may be considering employing a waste carrier to make sure that you carefully check their business details before engaging them.”