🔗 Share this article

Six Britons acting for the Wagner mercenary group linked to Russia have been handed jail terms for igniting a London-based storage unit that was storing relief supplies intended for Ukraine.

Sentencing and Roles

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

Dylan Earl received a 17-year jail term with an extra six-year period on supervised release due to his “primary involvement”. Another defendant, Jake Reeves, a resident of Croydon, South London, was sentenced to twelve years in jail with one year on extended licence. The offences they admitted made them 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, a Thornton Heath, South London local, was given nine years imprisonment and Ugnius Asmena, 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 drug dealer from Newport in Gwent, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with an extra year on extended licence 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 resulted in one million pounds worth of destruction in March of the previous year.

The proceedings revealed that the 21-year-old Earl and Reeves, 24 remained in their residences while coordinating the incident for the Wagner mercenary organization, representing the Russian Federation.

The group selected the storage facility 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 ten days afterward in Madrid, detectives from the Met’s counter-terrorism command assumed control of the investigation.

Proof and Additional Schemes

When Earl was arrested, law enforcement examination of his mobile phone uncovered he had recordings of the warehouse fire being initiated and was in contact with the Wagner organization on the Telegram messaging app, via an account with the usernames ‘Privet Bot account’ and ‘Lucky Strike alias’.

Some of the messages indicated that reconnaissance for additional operations, involving arson attacks at a restaurant and wine store in Mayfair district owned by the Russian opposition figure Evgeny Chichvarkin had already been carried out. The employment of explosive devices to harm structures was also discussed.

Investigators discovered that the defendant Earl was also considering the possibility of kidnapping the dissident Chichvarkin and “sending him back to Russia to face prison”.

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

In a search of his home, law enforcement found a flag of Russia, over twenty thousand pounds in currency and cocaine hydrochloride with a market value of about £34,000.

Driving Factors and Court Comments

The proceedings revealed he was a member of 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 social media to recruit disruptors vast distances from Moscow.”

She found the fire incident had a “terrorist connection” irrespective of if the individuals responsible knew it. The Wagner group is proscribed by the British authorities as a terrorist group.