Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based warehouse that was storing humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine.
Sentencing and Roles
Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey stated that they had orchestrated a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.
Dylan Earl was given a 17-year prison sentence with an extra six-year period on extended licence due to his “primary involvement”. Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in jail with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty 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, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given 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 drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.
Incident Specifics
The deliberate fire on a warehouse in Leyton, east London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused £1m in damage in March of the previous year.
The court heard that Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 did not leave their bedrooms while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, acting on behalf of the Russian government.
The group selected the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
When the identical Ukrainian firm was subjected to an arson attack ten days afterward in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the probe.
Proof and Additional Schemes
When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his mobile phone revealed he had videos of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in communication with the Wagner group on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.
Some of the communications showed that preliminary surveillance for additional operations, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to damage buildings was also deliberated.
Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also raising the possibility of kidnapping Chichvarkin and “exiling 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 residence inspection, police located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.
Motivations and Judicial Remarks
The court heard he was a participant in numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.
“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”
She determined the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” regardless of whether the individuals responsible were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the British authorities as a terrorist group.
