AN INVERCLYDE farm owner at the centre of a storm of protest over putrid ‘human sewage sludge’ could face criminal charges.

Iain Graham, of Killochries Farm in Kilmacolm, has been reported to prosecutors over the controversial fertiliser concoction this has sparked a public outcry.

The move comes after the Tele told last week how nearly 150 truckloads of the waste material had been ‘dumped’ on his land.

A raft of complaints from disgusted villagers has now provoked action from Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) chiefs.

The authority — which sent two monitoring officers to Kilmacolm on Monday — has now branded the sludge odour ‘offensive’.

A SEPA spokesman told the Tele today: “Officers carried out further investigations in response to complaints.

“During this investigation the odour was substantiated as offensive and we are currently considering enforcement action.” But Mr Graham — who owns a second sludge site near Bishopton — could end up in court after council officials stepped in.

Renfrewshire Council today confirmed that a report has been prepared for the procurator fiscal over the smelly controversy.

The local authority’s area covers Mr Graham’s Drumcross Farm, near Bishopton, from where the stench has reportedly travelled as far as Clydebank and Glasgow city centre.

We told last week how up to 12 truckloads a day of the de-watered sewage sludge had been deposited at the Kilmacolm site between 18 and 30 June by contractor James McCaig Farms.

It is currently being stored in an acre-sized open pit on Mr Graham’s farmland — but the stench is likely to intensify when the material is spread and ploughed into the ground.

Angry residents in Bishopton and Erskine have already told how they have endured the overpowering pong caused by the muck spreading operation at Drumcross.

Inverclyde councillor and deputy provost, David Wilson, told the Tele today: “We need to consider that what has happened at Bishopton is relevant to Kilmacolm.

“There is no question that it will give off more a smell when it is spread and the question is whether that will be tolerable or not.

“My consituents will decide on that. I have great sympathy for them but also for Iain Graham whom I don’t think has done anything deliberately here.” Mr Graham last week said that he was merely the ‘receiving farmer’ after agreeing to take delivery of the alternative fertiliser from James McCaig Farms — a recycling, farming and quarrying company.

He said at the time: “McCaig’s looks for farmers willing to take it on for one occasion.

“I don’t have the equipment to spread it and plough it in, so I am at the mercy of the contractor.” One objector said: “It’s supposed to be spread on the land and ploughed in to the ground within 12 hours, but this has not been happening.” A spokesman for McCaig’s — who declined to comment last week — said today: “We spread the stockpile of bio-solids at Drumcross Farm on Tuesday, finsihing at approximately 6.30pm.

“We have worked in conjunction with the regulatory authorities and have carried out all works as per an approved spreading plan.

“No further stockpiling or spreading will take place at this location.” A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “We are to submit a report to the procurator fiscal after a local farmer and his contractor breached a notice designed to minimise the nuisance caused to nearby communities from sewage sludge cake being spread on his fields.

“This activity has caused smell nuisance in neighbouring communities, and the council will take formal enforcement action in respect of the failure by the farmer and his contractor to comply with the terms of the abatement notice.” SEPA today advised people to contact its pollution hotline on 0800 80 70 60 ‘if they have information about this or any other potential pollution events’.