Three men quizzed as part of long-running probe into illegal waste dumping in woodland beloved of Nightingales

                                                        

Inquiries  continuing following incident at songbird-rich  Kent woodland (photo: Kent Wildlife Trust)

THREE men are being questioned as part of  as part of a probe  into industrial-scale, illegal tipping of waste at a Kent woodland long noted for its summer population of breeding nightingales.

Hoad's Wood, near Ashford, is a site of Special Scientific Interest with no approved public access.

But that did not prevent  30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste, piled 15 feet high in places, being dumped there on a date in 2023.

Since then Environment Agency enforcement officers, Kent Police and the Joint Unit for Waste Crime have been investigating jointly.

Two of the men – aged 44 and 62 – are from the Isle of Sheppey, while the third, aged 41, resides near Sittingbourne. 

All three have been interviewed, and their evidence will support any further stages of the investigation.

At this relatively early stage, it is understood that none of the trio has been formally charged with any offence.