A farmer and scrap metal boss have both been convicted of dumping waste in fields without the proper permission.

Richard Bourne, Lee Hazel, and his company Melksham Metal Recycling, were all found guilty by a jury at Swindon Crown Court last week.

They were prosecuted by the Environment Agency after they found builders rubble and other waste at Queenfield Farm in Forest, near Melksham.

Bourne, 66, Hazel, 45, and the firm all denied the disposal of controlled waste without a permit or exemption at the farm off Woodrow Road in 2011 and 2012.

Piles of stone rubble and builders' waste was found on Bourne's farm when investigators visited.

On one occasion a lorry from Melksham Metal Recycling arrived at the site where the driver handed something to the farmer.

Giving evidence Bourne said it was money which was handed to him for a tractor he had sold to Hazel and his company.

And he said anything found on his farm had been from work carried out to buildings there or from the land, which he claims used to be a council tip.

But the jury did not believe him and all three will face sentence later in the year.

Bourne was convicted of operating a regulated facility without a permit at the farm on or before May 21, 2012, without an environmental permit.

Hazel, of Pembroke Road, Melksham, and the company of disposing of controlled waste without a permit.