A golf-course owner who regularly complains to Bradford Council about rubbish being dumped in the area has been prosecuted for fly-tipping.

Former Royal Marine Stephen Storke was taken to Court after a local councillor spotted a pile of loose paper and cardboard on a footpath near Shay Grange Golf Club, Long Lane, Bingley.

Storke, 46, yesterday pleaded guilty at Bradford Magistrates' Court to breaching the Environmental Protection Act by causing litter. He was conditionally discharged for a year and ordered to pay £472.50 costs.

Commenting on the outcome of the case, Storke told the Telegraph & Argus: "Everyone seems to think I got off lightly. I held my hands up to it - it was one person making a genuine mistake. But the amount of times I've had to ring up the Council to get cars, used needles, settees and rubbish shifted from Long Lane is ridiculous.

"It's ironic I should be the one taken to court. I'd like to see the Council catch the people who keep dumping things on my golf course." Storke said that, having previously spent 17 years in the Royal Marines, he prided himself on keeping the golf course presentable and claimed the court case had damaged his reputation and that of Shay Grange.

But today the councillor who made the original complaint against him criticised the court's punishment as too lenient. Labour Councillor Keith Thomson said he was furious Storke had not been fined £2,000 for the fly-tipping.

"He had no excuse and is very fortunate he wasn't fined the full weight of the law for disposing of litter inappropriately. I really do get frustrated when people in this district complain about fly-tipping, then have the nerve to complain again when they are caught littering themselves."

Coun Thomson said the fact other people dumped their waste near the golf course was no excuse for Storke.

"I've personally reported at least three cases of fly-tipping near the site. If the Council has evidence of who is responsible, we will prosecute."

Magistrates heard Coun Thomson was running through Heaton Woods with his son in January when he spotted the loose paper and cardboard packaging. Prosecutor Richard Winter said that, when interviewed by council officials, Storke admitted the rubbish should not have been there and suggested someone must have moved it from its normal place.

Mitigating, John Sleightholme said Storke acquired the course last year after leaving the Marines and had since spent £55,000 on equipment and improvements to upgrade it.

Every day the 13 staff had to check the boundaries to remove fly-tipping and litter that had been dumped there.

Referring to the incident involving Coun Thomson, Mr Sleightholme said there had been a practice among the greens staff for six or seven years of burning rubbish at the far end of the course. It was not known how long the rubbish had been on the path and as there had been poor weather it could have been blown there or even picked up by an animal.

"It was what unfortunately escaped from the fire," he explained.

A Bradford Council cleansing spokesman said: "We are determined to clamp down on litter louts.''