🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of Russia’s Wagner group have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London warehouse that was storing relief supplies intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the Old Bailey remarked that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” to benefit the Russian state.

The individual named Dylan Earl received a 17-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given 12 years in prison with one year on supervised release. The offences they admitted made them the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was sentenced to a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a additional year on supervised release by the judge.

Ashton Evans, a 20-year-old drug dealer hailing from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment with an extra year on supervised release after being found guilty of withholding details regarding acts of terrorism connected to a separate scheme in Mayfair.

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel 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, acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The group selected the storage facility because it was being utilized for providing emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack 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 arrested, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone revealed he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in communication with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the communications indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already taken place. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.

Investigators found that the defendant Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe in Leicestershire had talked about an additional planned incident in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, law enforcement found a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a street value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a participant in multiple pro-Russian propaganda channels and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using social media to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.