Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been handed jail terms for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies 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” to benefit the Russian state.
Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve years in jail with an additional year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also a Croydon resident, 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, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a additional year on supervised release by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being found guilty of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
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 Earl, 21 and the 24-year-old Reeves did not leave their bedrooms while organising the attack for the Wagner group, representing the Russian government.
The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the identical Ukrainian firm was hit by an arson attack 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in contact 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 owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, law enforcement found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Driving Factors and Court Comments
The court heard he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This case is about 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 fire incident had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.
