A garden centre owner has been ordered to pay £12,850 in fines and costs after illegally stored waste on his land caused a massive fire that became a public health hazard.
Anthony Joyner rented out land near his home in the South Hams to two men who used it to store a huge 130,000 tons of wood, earth and building waste.
He evicted them after finding out about the illegal dumping but then found he was responsible for clearing up the mess, which covered an area the size of a football pitch.
The mystery fire broke out 16 days after Joyner was quoted £750,000 to remove the waste and he rejected the estimate, saying he would rather go bankrupt.