A landlord who paid to have his rubbish taken away by a stranger is more than £1,000 out of pocket after it was dumped in the street.

John Chinchen, 47, says he has been made a scapegoat after being prosecuted and fined.

He had paid £20 to have refuse from a house he was renovating in Bear Road, Brighton, disposed off.

Mr Chinchen, who lives in Carden Hill, said a man called round to his house in January offering to get rid of the rubbish.

He agreed without checking whether the man was a registered waste collector or where he was taking it.

The man then illegally fly-tipped the kitchen work tops and general waste, which filled a small van, on Bear Road.

When officers from Brighton and Hove City Council discovered it, letters in the bags allowed them to trace the rubbish to its owner.

Mr Chinchen, who is a carpenter and was renovating the kitchen himself, said he told the council he did not fly-tip it himself but had paid a man to take away the rubbish and assumed he would take it to a tip.

But because he did not know who the man was or where he lived, the council prosecuted Mr Chinchen instead.

He has now appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to breaching his duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He was fined £250 with £540 costs.

Mr Chinchen, who also spent £235 on solicitors' fees, bringing his total expenses to more than £1,000, said after the court case: "I feel a bit hard done by.

"If that is what the law is I have to agree with it but as far as I am concerned I did not do anything wrong. I think the council is using me as an example."

The council said anyone removing rubbish should be able to provide the name and address of their company, documents detailing what they are removing and where they are taking it.