Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based warehouse that was holding humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
While delivering the sentences, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian state.
The individual named Dylan Earl received a seventeen-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 twelve years in jail with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding information about terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Incident Specifics
The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and the 24-year-old Reeves remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also discussed.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also considering the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a member of numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist group.
