A Singaporean shipping company, Pretty Time Shipping SA, has been convicted of being responsible for a palm oil spill which washed up on the Hampshire and Sussex coast. On 11 January 2010 members of the public found yellow waxy lumps on various south coast beaches prompting an environmental clean-up operation and a Maritime and Coastguard Agency investigation. An examination of the cargoes of ships in the area and tidal mapping suggested that the ship Pretty Time was responsible for the pollution, but the ship’s owner denied responsibility. Oliver Willmott represented the prosecution at trial during which the court heard complex expert evidence from chemists in relation to whether the chemical composition of the samples on the shore matched that of those on the tanker. A guilty verdict was returned on 8 December 2011. The same day the company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £75,000 in costs.
BBC website coverage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16042847
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16090934
Link to Oliver Willmott’s profile: http://www.queensquarechambers.co.uk/site/people/profile/orsw-re#
