Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.
Court Rulings and Involvement
While delivering the sentences, the judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was given 12 years in prison with an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the National Security Act 2023.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a further year on extended licence by the court.
Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts connected to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The court heard that Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The group targeted the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in contact with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also discussed.
Investigators found that Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.
In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a participant in multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to recruit disruptors far from the Russian capital.”
She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
