🔗 Share this article

Six Britons working on behalf of the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been sentenced to prison for setting fire to a located in London storage unit that was storing relief supplies destined for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

While delivering the sentences, the judge at the central criminal court stated that they had planned a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” to benefit the Russian government.

Dylan Earl received a seventeen-year prison sentence with an additional six years on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was given twelve years in prison with an additional year on extended licence. Their admitted crimes resulted in them being the first individuals to be found guilty under the National Security Act 2023.

Jakeem Rose, aged 23, also from Croydon, was sentenced to eight years and 10 months. Nii Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath, south London, was sentenced to nine years and Ugnius Asmena, 21, who was homeless, was handed seven years. These three individuals were each convicted of serious fire-setting and given a further year on extended licence by the judge.

Ashton Evans drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was jailed for nine years imprisonment plus a further year on supervised release after being convicted of failing to disclose details regarding terrorist acts connected to another plot in the Mayfair area.

Incident Specifics

The deliberate fire 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 Earl, 21 and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while organising the attack for the Wagner mercenary organization, 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 same Ukrainian company was subjected to an intentional fire 10 days later in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command took over the investigation.

Evidence and Further Plans

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 communication with the Wagner group on Telegram, via an user profile with the handles ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike’.

Some of the messages showed that preliminary surveillance for further “missions”, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair belonging to the Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also deliberated.

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

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

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 member of multiple channels promoting Russian propaganda and was motivated by “plain and severe avarice”.

“This legal matter concerns the attempts by the Russian government to acquire harmful worldwide sway using online platforms to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the arson attack had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the perpetrators were aware of it. The Wagner group is banned by the UK government as a terrorist organisation.