A man has been arrested in connection with the large-scale illegal tipping of waste in Oxfordshire, police have said.

The 39-year-old, from the Guildford area, was arrested on Tuesday following co-operation between the Environment Agency (EA) and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit.

Last week, the EA declared the 40ft-high mountain of waste near Kidlington a “critical incident”.

Anna Burns, the Environment Agency’s area director for the Thames, said that the “appalling illegal waste dump… has rightly provoked outrage over the potential consequences for the community and environment”.

“We have been working round the clock with the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit to bring the perpetrators to justice and make them pay for this offence,” she added.

“Our investigative efforts have secured an arrest today, which will be the first step in delivering justice for residents and punishing those responsible.”

Phil Davies, head of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, added that the EA “is working closely with other law enforcement partners to identify and hold those responsible for the horrendous illegal dumping of waste”.

He then said: “A number of active lines of investigation are being pursued by specialist officers.”

Sky News drone footage captured the sheer scale of the rubbish pile, which is thought to weigh hundreds of tonnes and comprise multiple lorry loads of waste.

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The EA said that officers attended the site on 2 July after the first report of waste tipping, and that a cease-and-desist letter was issued to prevent illegal activity.

After continued activity, the agency added that a court order was granted on 23 October. No further tipping has taken place at the site since.

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been cleared of harassment against a trans activist but guilty of criminal damage to their phone.

The 57-year-old comedy writer, who had faced trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, denied both charges linked to posts made on social media and a confrontation at a conference in London in October 2024.

Summarising her judgment, District Judge Briony Clarke started by saying it was not for the court to pick sides in the debate about sex and gender identity.

She said she found Linehan was a “generally credible witness” and appeared to be “genuinely frank and honest”, and that she was not satisfied his conduct amounted to the criminal standard of harassment.

The judge said she accepted some of complainant Sophia Brooks’s evidence, but found they were not “entirely truthful” and not “as alarmed or distressed” as they had portrayed themself to be following tweets posted by the comedy writer.

While Linehan’s comments were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary”, they were not “oppressive or unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating”, the judge said, and did not “cross the boundary from the regrettable to the unacceptable”.

However, she did find him guilty of criminal damage, for throwing Brooks’s phone. Having seen footage of the incident, the judge said she found he took the phone because he was “angry and fed up”, and that she was “satisfied he was not using reasonable force”.

The judge said she was “not sure to the criminal standard” that Linehan had demonstrated hostility based on the complainant being transgender, and therefore this did not aggravate his offence.

He was ordered to pay a fine of £500, court costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200. The prosecution had asked the judge to consider a restraining order, but she said she did not feel this was necessary.

What happened during the trial?

The writer, known for shows including Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books, had flown to the UK from Arizona, where he now lives, to appear in court in person.

He denied harassing Brooks on social media between 11 and 27 October last year, as well as a charge of criminal damage of their mobile phone on 19 October outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster.

The trial heard Brooks, who was 17 at the time, had begun taking photographs of delegates at the event during a speech by Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at Sex Matters.

Giving evidence during the case, Linehan claimed his “life was made hell” by trans activists and accused Brooks, a trans woman, of being a “young soldier in the trans activist army”.

He told the court he was “angry” and “threw the phone” after being filmed outside the venue by the complainant, who had asked: “Why do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?”

Brooks told the court Linehan had called them a “sissy porn-watching scumbag”, a “groomer” and a “disgusting incel”, to which the complainant had responded: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced.”

The prosecution claimed Linehan’s social media posts were “repeated, abusive, unreasonable” while his lawyer accused the complainant of following “a course of conduct designed both to provoke and to harass Mr Linehan”.

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Following the judgment but ahead of sentencing, Linehan’s lawyer Sarah Vine KC said the court “would do well to take a conservative approach towards the reading of hostility towards the victim”.

She said the offence of criminal damage involved a “momentary lapse of control”, and was part of the “debate about gender identity, what it means”.

Vine said it was important “that those who are involved in the debate are allowed to use language that properly expresses their views without fear of excessive state interference for the expression of those views”.

She also said the cost of the case to Linehan had been “enormous”, telling the court: “The damage was minor; the process itself has been highly impactful on Mr Linehan.”

She requested he be given 28 days to pay the full amount.

Heathrow’s £33bn plan for a third runway has been chosen as the plan to expand the airport, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has announced.

It means the competing plan for a shorter runway, as proposed by hotel tycoon Surinder Arora, has been rejected.

Heathrow says the project will be 100% privately financed, through higher airline costs, and no taxpayer money will be used to build the runway or the associated infrastructure.

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Heathrow plans to spend £33bn on the third runway and £15bn to upgrade the existing airport.

But it will require re-routing the M25 motorway – one of the busiest in the country and the demolition of nearby villages, Longford and Harmondsworth.

The proposal is still subject to the planning process, including consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.

The full length of the runway is not known, as the layout and associated infrastructure implications will continue to be considered by the Department for Transport.

The department added the selection of Heathrow’s scheme does not represent a final decision on a third runway or its design.

Why’s it being built?

The government has said the additional runway could grow the economy and create more than 100,000 jobs, based on research commissioned by Heathrow Airport.

With a third runway, Heathrow could receive 150 million passengers a year, up from 83.9 million last year.

The airport earlier this year announced plans to increase its capacity by 10 million passengers a year, before a third runway is built, and to raise the charge paid by passengers to fund the investment.

When could it be built?

The government hopes a planning decision will be made by 2029, with the third runway being built by 2035.

But Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, who has consistently refused to use Heathrow on operational and cost grounds, has claimed the chance of it being built is “slim”, but it could be 2050 even if it does get built.

Ms Alexander said: “Today is another important step to enable a third runway… setting the direction for the remainder of our work to get the policy framework in place for airport expansion. This will allow a decision on a third runway plan this parliament, which meets our key tests, including on the environment and economic growth.

“We’re acting swiftly and decisively to get this project off the ground so we can realise its transformational potential for passengers, businesses, and our economy sooner.”