Environmental officers are on the hunt for a mindless fly-tipper, thought to have dumped rubbish twice in the space of a few weeks.

Residents are being asked to help track down the culprit, following two incidents of a similar nature a few miles apart on Romney Marsh.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) was first alerted on February 1 to fly-tipping in Beckett Road, Brookland.

The spot was just over the border in Rother so the council alerted neighbouring Rother District Council.

But on February 18 another pile of rubbish was reported in Tickners Lane, Brenzett, just a a stone's throw from the first incident.

Cllr Stuart Peall, cabinet member for the environment, said: “The fact that the both piles of rubbish contained horse manure and stable wood shavings, were dumped within a few miles of each other and were both in remote locations would indicate that it’s the same fly tipper and that this person knows the area.”

Although nothing was found amongst the rubbish in Beckett Road that could identify the culprit, TV packaging found at Tickners Lane sparked a search by an FHDC environmental protection officer.

Cllr Peall added: “From the labelling, our officer managed to find out that the 58-inch Panasonic television had been bought from Currys in Ashford.

"He visited the store and found out when the television had been sold, but it has been a cash sale and unfortunately there were no records that would identify the purchaser."

Included in the pile of rubbish at Tickners Lane were toys, building rubbish, a builder’s skip shoot and venting piping.

Eric Brown helps run the Facebook pages Fly Tipping Watch Romney Marsh and Litter Picking Watch Romney Marsh/Shepway, where residents can highlight hotspots for the crime.

We live in a beautiful district and none of us wants to see it blighted by fly-tipping..." Cllr Stuart Peall

He said these incidents are among other unrelated ones reported in the area in recent weeks. The group reported another load in Wey Street, between Hamstreet and Snave last week to FHDC, which contained a lot of suspected asbestos, requiring a specialist team to remove it.

He said: "If everyone contacting a waste disposal company or a person checked that they were licensed to carry waste, it would make sure all waste was disposed of properly.

"If they don’t check and get a receipt, which passes ownership of the waste, they are still liable to a massive fine if it is found and traced back to them.

"Unlicensed carriers haven’t got anywhere legally to empty their load that’s why it’s found in a quiet country lane."

Cllr Peall said: "This could only have been dumped by someone using a large van or a lorry and I would ask anyone who has seen a vehicle of this type on rural lanes at night or seen anything that might have aroused their suspicions, to report it to us.

"We will follow-up any information that will help us catch whoever did this.

“We live in a beautiful district and none of us wants to see it blighted by fly-tipping. But we need evidence if we’re going to catch the culprits."