Two fly tippers who caused danger to motorists when they dumped waste on public roads have each been jailed for four years.

Billy Nelson Smith and James Rice were paid to take away rubble and other rubbish from homes and then tipped it in various places in Kent and London.

Smith had been banned from cold calling under a serious crime prevention order when he was jailed for four-and-a-half years in March 2013 for his part in draining the £100,000 savings of an elderly man in Walderslande.

The ban ran for four years on his release from the sentence in February this year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard police set up a surveillance operation and saw the pair making several cold calls between June 3 and 16 and taking the controlled waste away in a flatbed truck.

Prosecutor Anthony Prosser said: “They picked up household and builders’ debris and fly tipped it, often on roads, entirely blocking them.

“It was often on relatively quiet roads. There was often danger to motorists who might literally run straight into the debris.”

Mr Prosser said Smith, 28, and Rice, 35, dumped one load on Shelleys Lane, Knockholt, blocking it about 150 yards from a junction.

One householder in Knockholt paid £150 for rubbish to be taken away. Smith and Rice took it to North Pole Lane, Keston, and tipped it into the road, blocking it.

More waste was dumped in Brasted and Scadbury Park, Chislehurst.

Smith, of Tillingbourne Green, Orpington, and Rice, of Swiftsden Road, Bromley, admitted eight offences of unauthorised disposal of waste and six of causing danger to road users.

Mr Prosser said Smith and Rice, who both have three children, had previous convictions for fraud and deception.

Judge Martin Joy said of the victim in Smith’s 2013 conviction: “He was literally left under the stars as a result.”

Passing sentence for the latest offences, he said: “They are quite deliberate. There is no question about that.

“You dumped waste where the road was completely blocked in a dangerous way. Each of you have committed these offences while on licence.

“It was flagrant and outrageous dumping of waste on roads.”

The judge extended Smith’s ban on cold calling by a year.

Leading the investigation for Kent Police was Det Con Alan Poulton who said: "Smith and Rice showed an absolute disregard and contempt for their surroundings.

"They posed as genuine traders offering to remove waste and rubbish from people’s homes but then discarded of their cargo in the most irresponsible and deplorable way, defiling the countryside and breaking the law.

"These type of crimes not only have profound environmental consequences but can also cause great distress to local residents and I’m very pleased that the court has passed what are very significant sentences indeed. The message these sentences send is loud and clear; there will be serious consequences for anyone involved in fly tipping rubbish in Kent."