What we learnt in the BBC's Toxic Waste Scandal podcast

BBC News

09-03-2025

One of the UK's biggest environmental scandals, the Corby toxic waste case, is back in the spotlight thanks to the Netflix drama Toxic Town.It tells the story of families fighting for justice after children in the Northamptonshire town were born with birth defects, believed to be caused by industrial pollution.In 2009, after a long legal battle, the High Court ruled Corby Borough Council was negligent in managing the waste.BBC Radio Northampton has produced an eight-part podcast, In Detail: The Toxic Waste Scandal, which offers a deep look into the real-life events.What have we learnt from the podcast series?
The verdict is still disputed
The civil court hearing was told the heavy metal cadmium was identified on the former steel site, and a medical expert cited research linking it to birth defects in animals.After the three-month hearing, Justice Akenhead ruled in favour of the claimants – 18 families from Corby.But speaking to the media for the first time, Dr Rick Smith, a clean-up consultant geologist for the council, says he believes the cluster of cases was not down to the transportation of the toxic waste.He said that while he agrees there was "cadmium in the stuff we transported", he disputed it would have caused the birth defects."I find it very hard to accept there was sufficient exposure of this very small number of members of the public to contaminants to have caused these distressing defects," he says."It defies any sort of logic. The whole thing is a mystery."He says the dust which was coming from the lorries was "not considered a health hazard by anyone at that time".Dr Smith added his colleagues were affected by the criticism following the ruling against the council. He said they were "hounded", and some never worked again.
Not all the families were in court
The podcast is hosted by George Taylor, who was born in 1992 with a unilateral upper limb defect, and whose family was one of the claimants in the case.But they missed the verdict at the High Court because they were on holiday in Majorca."My dad would not be swayed – he said we deserved a holiday," George says.But Danielle Holliday, a trainee solicitor at Collins Law at the time, was able to call the Taylors.George's mother, Fiona, recalls that she "just broke down in tears" when she heard the verdict as she sat on the beach.His father, Brian, says he "just got up and walked along the beach, crying".When the family returned to the hotel the case was on the television, including pictures of George, but he says he was "more interested in wrestling my younger brother" at the pool.
It was almost not a cluster
Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter is emeritus professor of statistics in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge.At the time of the court case, he wrote a blog about the cluster of birth defects, and he speaks about it for the first time in the podcast."The number of birth deformities in Corby that were considered in the judgement was not especially unusual," he says."Using the calculations presented by the prosecution, we can estimate there are around 30 areas in the UK about the size of Corby that had more extreme clusters over that period just by chance variation alone."But there well may have been affected births – and of course I have every sympathy for the families. I'm only looking at the very technical issue of whether the data passed this established threshold."And it was very marginal. If there had been one birth defect less in the data considered in the judgement, there would not have been enough effect births to conclude there was an affected cluster."
The council boss still cannot talk
Chris Mallender, the then-chief executive of Corby Borough Council, was prominent during and following the court case, but once the settlement was reached he did not speak about it again.The team behind the podcast attempted to contact him for an interview, and after weeks of trying he eventually got in touch by calling BBC Radio Northampton's public phone-in line.Following the settlement, Mr Mallender signed a non-disclosure agreement, but it was hoped there were still things he was able to talk about on the record.Podcast producer Sarah-Jane Muddiman called him back and spoke to him for 24 minutes, but he said he was not able to be interviewed and did not want details of the conversation to be revealed.
The compensation has helped
Families affected won an undisclosed financial settlement in 2010, held in trust until the children turned 18.George, now 32, says he is not allowed to say how much it was."What I can say is when you've got chronic pain, a hole in your hand and three largely useless fingers, it's handy to have a few quid to help with adaptations, taxis to hospital and pain relief."It's also good to thank your mum and dad for dressing your wounds and keeping you sane."He has also revealed he is "playing host to another tumour, my third one, in my shoulder".It is 13cm across and he could lose his arm, but he adds: "I just want to live my life."
BBC Radio Northampton's eight-part documentary series In Detail: The Toxic Waste Scandal is available for download from BBC Sounds.
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