SCRAP yard boss Lee Hazel and his recycling company have admitted a string of regulatory offences.

Melksham Metal Recycling and its 47-year-old owner had been due to face trial accused of operating without the correct permits.

But before a jury could be sworn in at Swindon Crown Court, Hazel pleaded guilty to a total of ten offences on behalf of both himself and the company.

Both had already been found guilty at a trial in June 2014 of dumping waste at a farm off Woodrow Road in Forest, near Melksham.

Now, after hearing the defendant is suffering severe mental health problems, a judge indicated that he would be unlikely to impose a jail term.

Hazel, who was clearly distressed by the hearing, only stayed in court to enter his pleas.

He then left while lawyers representing him and the Environment Agency, who are bringing the prosecution, stayed to make plans for the next hearing.

He and Melksham Metal admitted the unauthorised treatment of controlled waste at the site in Station Yard, Bath Road, between 2004 and 2008.

They also admitted breaching a waste control licence, operating a regulated facility without a permit by processing stone dust and having waste without authorisation.

The court was told that while he admitted the offences, he would be submitting a basis of plea which would explain the extent of his wrongdoing.

Judge Tim Mousley QC adjourned the case to a date to be fixed in December and released Hazel, of Pembroke Road, Melksham, on bail until then.

As well as receiving a criminal penalty he will also be pursued under the Proceeds of Crime Act as the authorities seek to claw back his ill gotten gains.

Last year Hazel and the company were found guilty after a trial of disposing of controlled waste without a permit.

They were prosecuted by the Environment Agency alongside farmer Richard Bourne, 67, after the agency found builders’ rubble and other waste at Queenfield Farm.

Hazel was also found guilty of operating a regulated facility without an environmental permit at the farm on or before May 21, 2012.

In September last year he was sentenced to a 15-month jail term, suspended for two years.

He was also told to pay £15,000 towards the costs of the case.

The judge also gave him three months to comply with a remediation order instructing him to undo the damage caused by his offending.