Serial polluter may face prison again

The only man jailed for pollution crimes in this country faces a second stint in prison for refusing to clean up his act, costing ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

William Victor George Conway and his de facto wife Carol Down have been found guilty of 20 charges under the Resource Management Act. The charges carry a maximum penalty of a $200,000 fine and a jail term of up to two years.

A jury found the couple allowed oil, heavy metals and other poisons to be discharged into the ground at two scrap metal yards, the contaminants leaching into a nearby stream and harbour.

Bill Conway ran Cash for Scrap despite being banned as a director, although his partner Down was listed as the sole shareholder and director.

The five-week trial at the Auckland District Court heard that Conway and Down ran the scrap metal operations at 11 and 13 Bairds Rd in Otara in such a way that contaminants - including oil and heavy metals - discharged into the ground and may have entered a nearby stream.

The Crown said that given the slope of the land it could be certain contaminants would have entered the stream.

The couple had been required to stop accepting scrap metal at 11 Bairds Rd and also remove metal from the property. By continuing to operate the scrap metal yard they were breaching an Environment Court order.

They later moved operations to Tidal Rd out in the open, in breach of another Environment Court order, and also allowed cars to defuel outside Tidal Rd. Cars would be placed on a stand and the fuel tanks would be punctured using a pickaxe. The result: fuel poured out into a drum underneath and, at times, onto the ground.

A defence lawyer for Conway suggested he was not in charge of the scrap metal operations but Crown witnesses said he was the "front" for the company and "knew on a day-to-day basis what was happening".

When the Auckland Regional Council - which has spent thousands battling Conway - sent officers to 11 Bairds Rd they discovered water pooling on the floor that had been contaminated with oil and, of particular concern, water could flow out through gaps in the wall.

The officer told the court he could see a chemical leaking out of squashed drums and could smell a solvent-like odour in the air as the drums were squashed.

A scientist said levels of petroleum hydrocarbons at the property were worse than in the Mangere sewage plant.

Conway and Down will be sentenced in the Auckland District Court on October 29.

- additional reporting by Jared Savage