Boss turned hoodie to dodge TV

THE boss of a multi-million-pound haulage company disguised himself as a hoodie to dodge waiting cameramen at court.

Doonin Plant director Gary Doonin put on the black top in a bid to conceal his face from TV cameras, then sprinted into West Lothian Civic Centre.

When he appeared in the dock at Livingston Sheriff Court, he looked more like a respectable businessman in a smart suit and open necked dress shirt.

Doonin, 46, and his company Doonin Plant Ltd were appearing for sentence after earlier being found guilty of environmental offences.

Investigators found his firm had hidden hundreds of tonnes of industrial and commercial waste under soil at the former Woodend colliery, near Armadale. Car tyres, carpets, clothes, mail, electrical components, metal and timber were uncovered in what the Scottish Enivronment Protection Agency described as the biggest illegal dump they had ever seen.

The case was adjourned after the court heard that social workers had been unable to prepare a background report on Doonin and his company.