Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court remarked that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to twelve years in jail with an additional year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London put 60 firefighters at risk and caused £1m in damage in March last year.
The court heard that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on Telegram, via an user profile with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.
Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.
