Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian government.
Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in prison with one year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each convicted of serious fire-setting and received a additional year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence after being found guilty of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in Mayfair.
Incident Specifics
The arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March last year.
The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian Federation.
The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the investigation.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications indicated that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.
Investigators discovered that Earl was also raising the potential abduction of the dissident Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police found a Russian flag, 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 multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This case is about the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.
