THE former boss of a recycling firm was today found guilty of allowing a site to store waste in a way that could have caused a risk to human health.

Jacqueline Powell, 58, was a director of Wormtech Ltd, a company that composted food waste in Caerwent, Monmouthshire, at the time of the offence, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

The company treated green waste from boroughs including Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire.

Powell, of Manor Way, Cardiff, was found guilty of one count of consenting to or conniving as a director of a company of treating, keeping or disposing controlled waste on land in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health.

She was also found guilty of two counts of consenting to or conniving as a director of a company of failing to comply with a condition of an environmental permit.

A third count of being in failing to comply with an environmental permit was ordered to lie on file.

Powell had denied all the charges.

A jury comprising nine men and three women took around four hours to reach verdicts on all the counts.

Judge Neil Bidder, QC, adjourned the case for sentencing to February 13.

Judge Bidder granted bail to Powell on condition that she co-operates with the probation service so that a pre-sentence report may be produced.

The judge also fixed the date of a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation hearing to May 30.

Prosecutor Tim Evans told the court that any funds recovered would be used to compensate the Environment Agency, which spent money clearing the Wormtech site after the company left Caerwent.