Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to 12 years in jail 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, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each found guilty of aggravated arson and given a additional year on supervised release by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding information about terrorist acts relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.
Details of the Attack
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London put 60 firefighters at risk and resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.
The proceedings revealed that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.
The group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Detectives discovered that Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police found a flag of Russia, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of about £34,000.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a participant in numerous channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
