Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based warehouse that was holding relief supplies destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” 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 “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to 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, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, who was without a fixed address, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and given a further year on supervised release by the judge.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding information about acts of terrorism relating to a separate scheme in the Mayfair area.
Details of the Attack
The arson attack 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 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 group selected the storage facility because it was being used to supply emergency relief 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.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had videos of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Detectives discovered that Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.
The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about another potential attack in the Czech nation.
In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “simple and ugly greed”.
“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”
She found the fire incident had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
