Farmer forced to burn £8,000 worth of crops after 'human waste falls from the sky'

The Civil Aviation Authority has launched an investigation after human waste was dumped across 25 acres of land near Kettering. The owner of Brooklands Farm off Thorpe Lane was horrified to find human faeces, sanitary towels and other waste spread across his fields when he went to tend to his livestock. He says the waste, which appears to have fallen from a plane, has put his livelihood at risk. Ian Clegg said: "I went out shepherding with my son at about 5pm on Tuesday and we found the stuff spread over an area of about 25 acres.

"It's spread all across my fields which were growing animal feed which we have been told by the vets we have to dig up and burn now. It's destroyed £8,000 worth of my crops, at a conservative estimate. Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Richard Taylor confirmed the organisation had launched an investigation to try to find what planes were in the area at the time, but said he remained sceptical that the waste had come from an aircraft." Mr Taylor said: "I have to stress that aircraft do not flush their toilets into the air during flight. There can be faults with the pipes that carry water through the aircraft, a washer may wear out and fail before it is replaced, but this would only release water rather than solid waste and the planes would be so high up that it would immediately turn to ice.



"We are investigating using radar records to see what planes were in the area at the time, the difficulty is we don't have an exact time that the waste landed." Officers from the Environment Agency were on the scene on Wednesday morning amid fears the pollution may have affected a stream which runs through the site. A spokesman for the agency said: "An officer has been to the site to check the water course for pollution and luckily there appears to be none. A lot of the waste seems to have washed away overnight in the heavy rain.

"At the moment we understand the waste has come from a plane, although that is not something we have ever heard of before." Mr Clegg said: "It's my very livelihood at stake here. We don't have a spare £8,000 to pay for winter feed. We've been told by the Environment Agency we won't be able to use the field again until the spring – it's a major incident covering a vast area. I've had to move my sheep and cattle indoors and have them all checked over by vets at great expense. I have heard of ice falling from aircraft but never this. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was a scene of devastation."