A gang involved in a Russian mercenary group-ordered arson attack on a London warehouse providing aid to Ukraine have been jailed.
The attack was carried out at the behest of the Wagner Group – a private military organisation that acts on behalf of the Russian state – and caused around £1m of damage.
Dylan Earl, along with Jake Reeves and four others, were sentenced for espionage, terrorism offences and arson at the Old Bailey on Friday for their involvement.
Earl, 21, admitted planning the arson attack on industrial units in Leyton, east London, in March last year while working under the instruction of the Wagner group, proscribed as a terror group in the UK.
(Top row L-R) Jakeem Rose, Ugnius Asmena, Ashton Evans, (bottom row L-R) Jake Reeves, Dylan James Earl and Nii Mensah. Pics: CPS/PA
He was jailed for a total of 23 years, of which 17 will be spent in prison and six on extended licence. Reeves was sentenced to 12 years, with a further year on licence.
The court was told Earl, from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, and Reeves, 24, from Croydon, south London, targeted the site because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
He recruited Reeves to help him plot the arson attack. Reeves then recruited his friend Nii Kojo Mensah to carry out the attack.
Mensah recruited his friend Jakeem Rose, while another person, Ugnius Asmena, was also recruited to take part.
It took eight fire crews, with 60 firefighters, to get the fire under control.
Read more: Britons ‘volunteering to commit crimes for Russia’, says counter-terror chief
Damage to an east London warehouse that was shown to the jury at the Old Bailey.
Pic: PA
‘Planned campaign of terrorism’
The gang had plotted further arson attacks on a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair, central London and planned the attempted kidnapping of the owner, a wealthy Russian dissident, Evgeny Chichvarkin.
The arson attack was part of a “planned campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said in her sentencing remarks at the Old Bailey.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow,” she added.
The judge said the arson attack was not an isolated incident, as a warehouse in Spain was hit 10 days later, and Earl has discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.
CCTV of three men setting fire to a warehouse
She concluded that the attack had a “terrorist connection”, regardless of whether the perpetrators were aware of that or not.
Earl, who orchestrated the arson attack from his bedroom, told a Wagner Group operative he met on Telegram that he was keen to carry out a series of “missions”, starting with the Leyton fire.
‘Easy meat’ for Wagner Group
Paul Hynes KC, said in mitigation for Earl, said he was “easy meat for the very sophisticated operatives of the Wagner Group acting as proxies for the Russian Federation”.
He described Earl as an “easy puppet in the hands of others” who sought “praise, importance and significance” and saw the world through the “prism of online gaming”.
Henry Blaxland KC said in mitigation for Reeves that the evidence showed “the extent to which the Russian state and agents of the Russian state have managed to penetrate the UK through taking advantage of adolescents buried in their computers”.
He said Reeves’ judgment was “distorted” by his excessive use of the drug ketamine.
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Wagner group: ‘An unusual case’
Four others jailed
Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, Rose, 23, of Croydon, and Asmena, 21, of no fixed address, were convicted of aggravated arson.
Mensah was jailed for 10 years, Rose was jailed for nine years, and Asmena was jailed for eight years and ten months. They were each handed a further year on extended licence by the judge.
Ashton Evans, who helped Earl supply drugs, was also charged as part of the investigation, as social media messages allegedly showed he was both aware of the arson attack and the planned offences in Mayfair.
Evans, of Newport, was found not guilty of the first count – relating to the Leyton arson – but guilty of the second count related to the plot to damage businesses in Mayfair.
The 20-year-old was jailed for nine years, with a further year on licence.
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Damage to an east London warehouse that was shown to the jury at the Old Bailey.
Pic: Met Police/PA
Earl pleaded guilty to preparatory conduct, contrary to section 18 of the National Security Act (NSA) 2023, aggravated arson, possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and possession of criminal property.
Reeves pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service, contrary to section 17(2) and (11), NSA 2023, and aggravated arson.
Earl and Reeves are the first people to be convicted of offences under the National Security Act, which came into legislation at the end of 2023.
‘Hostile agents’ for Russia
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police, told Sky News’s Sadiya Chowdhury that young British men are reaching out online to “hostile” foreign states such as Russia and China offering to commit crimes for them.
He warned that incidents in which foreign agents attempted to recruit British citizens were becoming “increasingly common”.
Commander Murphy said those targeted tended to be men aged in their late teens to mid-20s, and that while some were approached, others were “proactively reaching out” to Iran or Russia.
After the sentencing, he added: “This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’, in this case British men, to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf.
“The ringleaders, Earl and Reeves, willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state.”
Sir Keir Starmer mentioned the case in his opening remarks for Friday’s ‘coalition of the willing’ meeting in London, saying: “Just a few moments ago, here in the United Kingdom, we saw the sentencing of six men for a Russian-sponsored arson attack on a warehouse in east London.
“This is a warehouse storing humanitarian aid and satellite equipment destined for Ukraine. We will not tolerate this hostile activity and it just underlines the point – your security is our security.
“What happens on the frontline today is shaping our collective future for years to come.”
