A Dagenham man who dumped asbestos waste in a busy street has been given a suspended sentence.

Arvinder Tooray, of New Road, was handed a 16 week jail term, suspended for 18 months, at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to the offence at an earlier hearing.

The court heard how Tooray, who has a waste licence, was caught after Enforcement Partnership Team officers followed a trail of debris along Grangewood Street, East Ham, on Wednesday, February 4.

It led to a pile of rubbish in a back garden and a red Ford Transit van stacked with more. Tooray, 48, and two others in the van were arrested.

An investigation found the rubbish contained corrugated sheets of asbestos, including blue asbestos, which has been linked with lung cancer.

Chief magistrate Robert Jackson called it “a serious offence of fly-tipping waste.”

He said: “Some went on to the pavement near a school where children would walk past and members of the public could possibly breathe in the dust particles.”

Tooray was also ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and pay £3,101.30 in costs and an £80 victim surcharge.