{"id":525071,"date":"2025-10-24T15:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525071\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T15:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:54:10","slug":"uk-judge-sentences-5-men-for-roles-in-russia-linked-arson-attack-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/525071\/","title":{"rendered":"UK judge sentences 5 men for roles in Russia-linked arson attack in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — A British judge on Friday sentenced five men for their roles in an arson attack in London that authorities say was masterminded by Russian intelligence as part of a wider campaign of sabotage and disruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sentences ranged from seven to 17 years in prison.<\/p>\n

The men were involved in a plot to set fire to a warehouse in east London in March 2024 that contained satellite communication devices destined for Ukraine. British prosecutors said that the arson \u2014 organized on behalf of the Wagner paramilitary group \u2014 was intimately connected to the Russian state and likely linked to another arson attack against a warehouse in Spain. <\/p>\n

The fire is one of at least 25 arson or explosives plots across Europe linked to Russia by Western officials that The Associated Press has documented since Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a> began on Feb. 24, 2022. <\/p>\n

European intelligence officials have told the AP that the risk of death or serious injury is rising as saboteurs directed by Russia set fires near homes and businesses<\/a>, plant explosives<\/a> or build bombs<\/a>. The pattern of attacks is similar across Europe and the goal, the officials say, is to undermine support for Ukraine, sow fear and create conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis offence was part of a series of European-wide sabotage operations,\u201d prosecutor Duncan Penny said.<\/p>\n

The actions of Dylan Earl \u2014 the British man who arranged the arson \u2014 constituted a \u201csustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage on U.K. soil, carried out in support of a foreign power \u2014 the Russian Federation \u2014 and its war of aggression against Ukraine,\u201d Penny said.<\/p>\n

The sentences were the first a British court imposed for violating the National Security Act, which was introduced in 2023 to address threats from foreign states including espionage and sabotage. U.K. counterterrorism police said that three men were arrested<\/a> under the act on Thursday on suspicion of spying for Russia.<\/p>\n

Sentencing Earl, 21, to 17 years in prison, Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said that he was a member of numerous pro-Russia propaganda channels on Telegram and part of a \u201cpernicious\u201d plot organized by Moscow. Earl played \u201ca leading role in terrorist activities,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The arson in East London caused 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) in damage to a warehouse owned by a Ukrainian couple who shipped StarLink satellite communication devices to Ukraine. The devices are often used by the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n

The couple also own a business on the outskirts of Madrid that was set on fire 10 days after the attack in London, a counterterrorism officer from the Metropolitan Police told the court in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe method used, the time of night, the time of year, and the business targeted strongly suggest the two incidents … may be linked,\u201d Penny said, reading the officer\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

During the trial, the jury was shown messages where Earl and his co-conspirators also talked about burning down London businesses owned by Evgeny Chichvarkin \u2014 a Russian tycoon who delivered supplies to Ukraine \u2014 and kidnapping him.<\/p>\n

At sentencing, the court heard how Earl also tried to pay someone identified as a serving British soldier for intelligence for the Wagner Group \u2014 a mercenary organization whose operations were taken over by Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry in 2023. <\/p>\n

Earl also discussed burning down a warehouse in the Czech Republic for 35,000 pounds ($47,000), a day after the London arson, kidnapping another billionaire for the purposes of extortion and the need to collect bank card details on European residents.<\/p>\n

Earl\u2019s defense attorney Paul Hynes painted him as a \u201csad\u201d fantasist who boasted to his Russian recruiter that he could be \u201cthe best spy you have ever seen\u201d as well as of having ties to international criminal gangs.<\/p>\n

Hynes said that Earl had a difficult childhood and saw the world through the \u201cdelusional prism of online gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

He communicated on Telegram with Privet Bot \u2014 an account which posted multiple times in a Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group, asking for people to join the battle against the West. The Metropolitan Police on Friday released an image of Earl holding up his passport to confirm his identity to Privet Bot \u2014 who likely was linked to Russian military intelligence, the court heard.<\/p>\n

The recruiter and Earl communicated predominantly in Russian with Earl using Google to translate.<\/p>\n

Privet Bot asked Earl to \u201cget access to bank accounts containing money destined for Ukraine,\u201d including Russian assets frozen after President Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need those who are our kindred spirit,\u201d the Russian recruiter said.<\/p>\n

Earl was \u201ceasy meat\u201d for the \u201csophisticated operatives\u201d from the Wagner Group, Hynes said. But Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb disagreed with that assessment and said that he was motivated by \u201csimple and ugly greed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police and intelligence services are grappling with similar attacks throughout Europe, including where people have been recruited online.<\/p>\n

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Polish authorities have investigated multiple arson attacks on shopping centers, industrial areas and apartment buildings which show how Russian operatives often \u201cfollow the same pattern\u201d in attacks across Europe, said Jacek Dobrzy\u0144ski spokesperson for Poland\u2019s security minister. Authorities Tuesday said that they detained people over another plot to send explosives to Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a Colombian man was directed on the Telegram messaging app to set fire to two warehouses in Poland and then to travel to the Czech capital, Prague, to set fire to public buses.<\/p>\n

Like Earl, he was given the location for the fires, instructions on how and when to set them and told to provide video evidence to Russia\u2019s intelligence services to get paid, Dobrzy\u0144ski told the AP. <\/p>\n

The goal of the arson attacks is to \u201cintimidate people,\u201d create conflict and to undermine European societies and support for Ukraine, Dobrzy\u0144ski said. It\u2019s also about testing the response of law enforcement and \u2014 because the plots often involve multiple people and lines of investigation \u2014 draining police resources, he said.<\/p>\n

Five men were sentenced Friday alongside Earl for their roles in the arson.<\/p>\n

Both Earl and his co-conspirator Jake Reeves, 23, \u201cwillingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state,\u201d said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing at the Metropolitan Police. Reeves was sentenced to 12 years in prison.<\/p>\n

But Nii Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23; Ugnius Asmena, 20 didn\u2019t know they were working for Russia. They were found guilty of aggravated arson and sentenced to nine years; eight years, 10 months, and seven years in prison, respectively. Ashton Evans, 20, was sentenced to nine years in prison for failing to disclose information about terrorist acts.<\/p>\n

When armed police swooped on Earl to arrest him in the parking lot of a home improvement store in April 2024, they told him he was being arrested under the new powers of the National Security Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you guys have some good proof,\u201d Earl told the officers. \u201cI hope I get a good story for this.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — A British judge on Friday sentenced five men for their roles in an arson attack in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[170475,14616,3907,748,188,393,12264,4179,4884,2003,257,7661,16,15,7660,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-525071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-170475","9":"tag-arson","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-fires","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-law-enforcement","18":"tag-london","19":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-war-and-unrest","23":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115429956987481644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}