Gang involved in Wagner Group arson attack on London warehouse jailed

A gang involved in a Russian mercenary group-ordered arson attack on a London warehouse providing aid to Ukraine have been jailed.

The attack was carried out at the behest of the Wagner Group - a private military organisation that acts on behalf of the Russian state - and caused around £1m of damage. Dylan Earl, along with Jake Reeves and four others, were sentenced for espionage, terrorism offences and arson at the Old Bailey on Friday for their involvement.

Earl, 21, admitted planning the arson attack on industrial units in Leyton, east London, in March last year while working under the instruction of the Wagner group, proscribed as a terror group in the UK. He was jailed for a total of 23 years, of which 17 will be spent in prison and six on extended licence.

Reeves was sentenced to 12 years, with a further year on licence. The court was told Earl, from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, and Reeves, 24, from Croydon, south London, targeted the site because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

He recruited Reeves to help him plot the arson attack. Reeves then recruited his friend Nii Kojo Mensah to carry out the attack.

Mensah recruited his friend Jakeem Rose, while another person, Ugnius Asmena, was also recruited to take part. It took eight fire crews, with 60 firefighters, to get the fire under control.

Read more: Britons 'volunteering to commit crimes for Russia', says counter-terror chief 'Planned campaign of terrorism' The gang had plotted further arson attacks on a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair, central London and planned the attempted kidnapping of the owner, a wealthy Russian dissident, Evgeny Chichvarkin. The arson attack was part of a "planned campaign of terrorism and sabotage" in the interests of the Russian state, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said in her sentencing remarks at the Old Bailey.

"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 added. The judge said the arson attack was not an isolated incident, as a warehouse in Spain was hit 10 days later, and Earl has discussed another potential attack in the Czech Republic.

She concluded that the attack had a "terrorist connection.