HAZARDOUS body parts were found rotting at a medical waste site by two burglars nearly a year after it closed down. Intruders Barry Watson and Jamie Pollard broke into the compound in Newcastle over two days to swipe medication left lying around. But the pair had to undergo decontamination due to the biohazard they had […]
HAZARDOUS body parts were found rotting at a medical waste site by two burglars nearly a year after it closed down.
Intruders Barry Watson and Jamie Pollard broke into the compound in Newcastle over two days to swipe medication left lying around.
But the pair had to undergo decontamination due to the biohazard they had been exposed to after the medical waste was left to rot, Chronicle Live reports.
Investigators also discovered decomposing body parts left abandoned after Healthcare Environmental Services Ltd lost their NHS contract and went bankrupt in December 2018.
The company stopped trading after becoming embroiled in a waste stockpiling scandal.
Shocking pictures show bin liners full of hazardous waste piled up in skips inside the closed-down compound.
Prescription drugs in buckets were also “easily accessible to people who breached the security”, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
A backlog of hundreds of tonnes of clinical and human waste was finally cleared last month.
Watson and Pollard have now been sentenced to six months suspended for 18 months with a community order after admitting two counts of burglary.
The court was told the pair simply forced a shutter to get into the site on September 6 before returning the next day to stock up again.
A security officer saw Pollard and Watson attempt to flee with a plastic bag full of drugs and gave chase.
Barry Robson, prosecuting, said: “He ran after them and shouted at them to stop but they didn’t.
“Watson turned at one point and swung a punch towards him which missed and Pollard shouted ‘Just do him’.
“The security guard let them escape because he feared for his safety.”
After the second break-in, the pair were caught and firefighters had to be called due to the biohazard and both burglars had to be decontaminated before going to hospital.
Vic Laffey, for Pollard, said: “It doesn’t take much research to see there were dozens of large bin liners in the yard.
“Quite how this situation developed is beyond belief, quite frankly.
“On entering the premises, it seems that outdated prescription drugs were freely available and lying around and they went back the second day because of that.”
