Two local properties companies and their directors pleaded guilty to storing and depositing waste, including asbestos, at Belfast Crown Court.

Each company was sentenced to a two year conditional discharge. Each Director was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Brackhill Limited and Sloan Molyneaux Holdings Limited, two companies owning lands adjacent to Maldon Street, Donegall Road, Belfast, pleaded guilty to offences under Article 4 of the Waste & Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997.

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Brackhill Limited's Director, James Shields (76) from Hillsborough, and Roy Millar Molyneaux (61) from Newtownards, a Director of Sloan Molyneaux Holdings Limited, also pleaded guilty to offences under Article 4 of the 1997 Order.

Officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) had investigated the deposit and storage of waste, including hazardous waste, originating between August 2008 and October 2012, from the demolition of former factory units at Maldon Street off the Donegal Road.

(CD/JP)