A LANDLADY has been ordered to pay £1,300 for a fly-tipping offence after a pet dog died when its throat was cut open by dumped rubbish.

Farzana Saddique, 36, of Beaufort Street, Nelson, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to failing to ensure that the person who she paid to remove the waste was an authorised person.

Pendle Council said waste from a property, also in Beaufort Street, which Mrs Saddique rents out, was fly-tipped on the Groundwork car park, in Hall Street, in the Infirmary area of Blackburn, in July 2007.

Dog owner Ann-Marie Braithwaite said her pet greyhound Bella died when its throat was cut open by broken glass found in dumped rubbish, close to Highfield Road, in the same area, a few weeks later, in September 2007.

Mrs Braithwaite, of York Street, Blackburn, said at the time: “Litter can be lethal, and what happened to Bella shows that.”

The council said that because Mrs Saddique rented out the Beaufort Street home the rubbish was considered to be business waste.

In court Mrs Saddique was given a 24-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £300 in compensation for allowing her waste to be fly-tipped in Blackburn. She will also have to pay £1,000 costs.

After the case, Pendle Council leader John David, who represents environmental issues in the borough, said: "This successful prosecution has come about through partnership working between Pendle Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council.

"Businesses have a duty to dispose of their rubbish in a proper and legal way - and that includes people who rent out homes.

"We don't tolerate fly tipping in Pendle, and I certainly don't support rubbish from Pendle being dumped anywhere else.

"Fly tipping is a crime, and one that just won't be tolerated."