Six Britons acting for Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for igniting a London-based storage unit that was holding relief supplies intended for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian government.
Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to twelve years in prison with one year on supervised release. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the initial persons to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.
Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was given seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and received a further year on supervised release by the court.
Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old individual involved in drug trafficking hailing from Newport, Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts 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 caused £1m in damage 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 mercenary organization, representing the Russian Federation.
The individuals involved selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an intentional fire ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit assumed control of the probe.
Evidence and Further Plans
When Earl was taken into custody, police analysis of his mobile phone uncovered 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 usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.
Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.
Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.
The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.
In a search of his home, police located a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a member of numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels 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 far from the Russian capital.”
She found the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” regardless of whether the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.
