A Bucks flytipper who blocked off a track with dumped rubbish has been given a suspended prison sentence - even though he had a previous conviction for the same crime.

Charlie Rudge, from The Parkway, Iver, was hired by a homeowner to get rid of some waste - including some sofas and an armchair - but instead he dumped it in a lane off the A413 in Chalfont St Peter, close to the Hill House allotments.

The rubbish was found on May 12 last year and was reported via social media to the county councillor for the area.

When the dumped rubbish was examined by Bucks County Council's flytipping investigations team, they were able to trace it back to a house in Iver Heath.

When the team visited the house, the homeowner identified Rudge as the waste carrier and produced evidence of online payments made to him to take away the rubbish.

When Rudge, 23, was interviewed at a police station about the flytipping, he denied it - but when the case went to court on November 26, he pleaded guilty.

The district judge heard that Rudge had a previous conviction for flytipping, and sentenced him to 28 days in prison suspended for 12 months.

He was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and to pay £225 in clean-up compensation.

A spokesman for the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire said: "This case shows action being taken against a repeat fly tipper. The suspended sentence means that any future offence could mean prison.

"The case also highlights the importance of never paying cash in hand for waste removal. Traceable transactions protect the waste producer because the investigation then moves on to the person who took the waste away.

"If the householder in this case had been unable to identify the carrier, she could have faced prosecution herself for failure in her duty of care."