Two men who dumped 2,000 tyres on land in Pitsea have had their prison sentences quashed at an appeal.

Paul O'Brien, 36, and Andrew Enkel, 34, both of St Andrew's Road, Laindon, were paid £8,000 by a man in a pub to dump the tyres.

They can still be found on the land off Trenham Avenue, Pitsea, as it would cost several thousand pounds to shift them.

Both men were jailed for eight months at Southend Crown Court on October 28 last year after pleading guilty to offences under the Environment Protection Act.

Mr Justice Goldring, sitting in the London Criminal Appeal Court with Lord Justice Evans and Mr Justice Scott Baker, said the offences were "at the lower end of the scale".

He added that O'Brien and Enkel became involved "because they saw a chance of making a quick profit".

Overturning the prison sentences, the judge concluded: "This case does not pass the custody threshold.

"The justice of the case would have been met by a fine or a community service order. The position now is that they have served their sentences and have been released."

Counsel for the Environment Protection Agency Neil Mercer earlier told the court tyre dumping had become a particular problem in the region with "millions of them being dumped in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk".

He predicted it would cost about £12,000 to remove the 2,000 tyres from Pitsea.

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