🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for igniting a located in London storage unit that was holding humanitarian aid intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

Dylan Earl was given a seventeen-year prison sentence with an additional six years on extended licence due to his “leading role”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, from Croydon in south London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes made them the first individuals to be convicted under the 2023 National Security Act.

Jakeem Rose, also from Croydon, was jailed for a term of eight years and ten months. Nii Mensah, 23, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was without a fixed address, was given seven years in prison. The trio were each found guilty of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the court.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being convicted of withholding details regarding terrorist acts relating to another plot in Mayfair.

Incident Specifics

The arson attack on a Leyton-based storage facility in East London endangered sixty fire service personnel and resulted in £1m in damage in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed 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 government.

The group targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply emergency relief and satellite communication gear to Ukraine.

When the same Ukrainian company was hit by an arson attack ten days afterward in Madrid, investigators from the Metropolitan Police's anti-terror unit took over the probe.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was taken into custody, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone revealed he had recordings of the warehouse fire being started and was in contact with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for further “missions”, involving fire-related incidents at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair district owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The use of explosives to harm structures was also deliberated.

Detectives found that Earl was also considering the potential abduction of Chichvarkin and “exiling him back to Russia to confront imprisonment”.

The individual involved in narcotics from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire had discussed an additional planned incident in the Czech nation.

In a search of his home, law enforcement located a Russian flag, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine with a market value of approximately thirty-four thousand pounds.

Motivations and Judicial Remarks

The proceedings revealed he was a member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was driven by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to gain pernicious global influence using online platforms to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow.”

She determined the arson attack had a “link to terrorism” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner organization is proscribed by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.