A group of men who carried out an arson attack on a London warehouse as foot soldiers for Vladimir Putin in a “campaign of terrorism and sabotage” have been jailed.
Dylan Earl, 21, was the ringleader of a plot to set fire to an industrial unit in Leyton, east London which belonged to a company sending humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
Earl crafted the plan with lieutenant Jake Reeves, 24, before Jakeem Rose, 23, Nii Mensah, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, were recruited into the scheme.
The plan was driven by the Wagner Group, the private militia which is funded by the Russian state, with operatives in touch directly with Earl.
The Old Bailey heard there was also a second plot to set fire to the Mayfair wine shop and restaurant belonging to Russian billionaire Evgeny Chichvarkin, a dissident of the Putin regime, and even to kidnap the tycoon himself.
At court on Friday, Earl was jailed for 17 years with an extra six years on licence after his release, while Reeves was jailed for 12 years and an extra year on licence.
Mensah was jailed for nine years, Rose was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison, and Asemna was jailed for seven years. Each defendant was also given an extra year on licence.
Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb called their actions a “planned campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.
“This case is about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow”, she said.
The fire, on March 20 last year, ended up causing around £1 million in damage, and required the services of eight fire crews to bring under control.
CCTV, traffic cameras and phone evidence tracked the journey of the men responsible through the streets of south London to the scene of the fire in a Kia Picanto.
They stopped to fill a can with petrol, and then at the warehouse Rose and Mensah were caught on camera climbing over a wall.
Rose poured the contents of the can onto warehouse unit doors and set them alight, while Mensah filmed the attack on his mobile phone and livestreamed it on FaceTime.
The blaze was spotted by a lorry driver who was parked nearby, and who bravely attempted to extinguish the flames.
Rose dropped a Rambo knife as they left the scene, leaving behind his DNA.
Prosecutor Duncan Penny KC called it “deliberate and calculated criminality at the behest of foreign influence”, and pointed to messages after the attack when they commented on the smoke and the fire getting news coverage.
The court heard that Earl and Reeves knew the political motive behind the attack, while the other men were paid for their involvement and became unwitting Putin stooges.
Earl came into contact with the Wagner Group on secure messaging app Telegram, the court heard, where he “expressed a willingness to undertake ‘missions’ of which the Leyton arson attack was the first”, said Mr Penny.
Incredibly, Earl had been instructed by his Wagner Group handler to watch TV drama The Americans, about KGB agents undercover in the US, to “understand work”.
The handler wrote: “The idea is like that. You need to organise partisan cells in the country and in Europe and think of a name for your movement. We’ll give you support…
“Watch this series. It will be your manual. You’ll have a source of funding through organising arsons.”
Earl talked in his chats about a plot to burn down the Hide restaurant and Hedonism wine shop in Mayfair, snatch the owner and hand him over to Russia.
He also discussed the idea of building links between Russia and the IRA.
The owner of the Mayfair businesses is a Russian dissident who had criticised Putin and the war in Ukraine. He had even driven aid trucks from the UK to Ukraine personally.
Earl’s barrister, Paul Hynes KC, said: “He was easy meat for the very sophisticated operatives of the Wagner Group acting as proxies for the Russian Federation.”
He described Earl as an “easy puppet in the hands of others” who sought “praise, importance and significance” and saw the world through the “prism of online gaming”.
Mr Hynes said: “Our primary submission he is a sad individual who at the time of the commission of the offence was in his early 20s.
“He was for lengthy periods alone in his bedroom at his parents’ house and led a minimalistic existence taking drugs and gaming online.”
Mr Hynes said: “This is not a John le Carre novel. But nevertheless those who would wish the UK and other countries ill will continue to try to latch on to people like Mr Earl.”
For Reeves, Henry Blaxland KC said the case “reveals the extent to which the Russian state and agents of the Russian state have managed to penetrate the UK through taking advantage of adolescents buried in their computers.”
He also said it is a cautionary tale for ketamine users, as Reeves was a heavy user and it “distorted his judgment”.
Earl, of Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, and Reeves, of Croydon, pleaded guilty before the trial began to offences under the National Security Act 2023.
Rose, of Croydon, Asmena, of no fixed address, and Mensah, of Thornton Heath were convicted at trial of aggravated arson.
Asmena was the only one to give evidence at trial and said knew nothing of the Russian connection but had been offered £500 in cash for a “simple and easy” job.
A co-defendant, Ashton Evans, 20, from Newport, Gwent, was jailed for nine years plus a further year on extended licence after being found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to the Mayfair plot.
After the sentencing, Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’, in this case British men, to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf.
“The ringleaders, Earl and Reeves, willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state.
“I am pleased that, working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, we were able to use the new National Security Act legislation, which meant the severity of Earl and Reeves’s offending was reflected in the charges they faced.”
Frank Ferguson, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This successful prosecution marks a pivotal moment in our national security efforts.
“The National Security Act has given the Crown Prosecution Service and law enforcement agencies the tools to confront emerging threats from hostile states with greater precision and force.”
