🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

Sentencing the men, the presiding judge at the central criminal court stated that they had orchestrated a “series of terrorist and sabotage acts” in the interests of the Russian government.

Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year jail term 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 an additional year on supervised release. The offences they admitted resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also a Croydon resident, was jailed for eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. These three individuals were each convicted of aggravated arson and received a further year on extended licence by the court.

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

Details of the Attack

The deliberate fire on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and caused one million pounds worth of destruction in March last year.

The court heard that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner group, representing the Russian Federation.

The group targeted the storage facility because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in the Spanish capital, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the probe.

Evidence and Further Plans

When Earl was arrested, police analysis of his cellphone revealed he had recordings of the storage facility blaze being started and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages showed that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a dining establishment and wine shop in Mayfair district belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also discussed.

Detectives found that the defendant Earl was also raising the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to face prison”.

The drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

In a residence inspection, police found a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

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

“This legal matter concerns the efforts of the Russian Federation to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to enlist saboteurs far from the Russian capital.”

She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the perpetrators knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist organisation.