Eight men – four of them from Croydon – are on trial at the Old Bailey for a variety of charges in the first prosecution brought under the 2023 National Security Act, following a kidnapping plot against a Russian dissident and an arson attack last year on a Ukrainian-run business
Russian attack: the arson at this Leyton warehouse last year is linked to the invasion of Ukraine
The Old Bailey trial of a gang of eight men, four of them from Croydon, who are accused of terror offences under the National Security Act, began this week, with a jury shown video of an attack on a warehouse in east London which the alleged arsonists had livestreamed themselves.
The warehouse was run by a business supplying Starlink satellite internet equipment to Ukraine. The prosecution says that the gang were recruited by agents for the Russian mercenary group Wagner, in the first case brought to trial under the 2023 National Security Act.
Around £1million damage was caused by the blaze at a warehouse in Leyton in March 2024, the jury was told, in an attack against Ukrainian interests orchestrated by the Russian secret service.
The attack was organised by Dylan Earl, 20, from Leicestershire, and Croydon’s Jake Reeves, 23. Earl was said to be the “architect” of the warehouse attack.
Charged: Jake Reeves, from Croydon, was among the gang leaders
Earl and Reeves have admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group, the group of Russian paramilitaries and mercenaries who are banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation.
Earl has admitted to preparing conduct for acts which endangered life, an offence under the National Security Act.
Reeves admitted a charge under the NSA of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence agency, meaning he accepted taking money from Wagner that was to be provided by Russian security services.
Once Reeves discovered the motivation behind it, he was prepared to agree to accept money from a foreign intelligence service to target an individual and businesses in the capital, the jury was told.
Earl and Reeves have also admitted plots to set fire to the Hide Restaurant and Hedonism Wines in Mayfair and kidnapping their owner, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a high-profile dissident and vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The jury was told how on March 19 – the day before the arson attack – Earl had been sent details about the TV spy drama The Americans.
Charged: Dylan Earl was told to use The Americans as his manual for arson
Duncan Penny KC, prosecuting, said Earl had been tasked by Telegram user “Privet Bot” to watch the show.
“Will you please see the serial Americans,” one message read. “I recommend to watch it in order to understand work,” read another.
The next day – the day of the fire – other messages from “Privet Bot” invited Earl to form a “movement”, which it would offer “support” to.
The messages also urged Earl to “watch this series”, meaning The Americans, adding “it will be your manual”.
The warehouse units torched in the arson attack last March belonged to Oddisey, a company that delivered packages and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, including satellite equipment from Elon Musk’s Starlink. Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Paul English, 61, from Roehampton; Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, from Thornton Heath; Jakeem Rose, 23, also from Thornton Heath; and Ugnius Asmena, 20, of no fixed address, deny charges of aggravated arson.
Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, from Croydon, and Ashton Evans, 20, from Gwent, deny knowing about terrorist acts but failing to disclose the information.
Prosecuting barrister Penny told the Old Bailey that the arson was criminality “at the behest of foreign influence”.
He said it was organised by Earl, who was “knowingly acting at the behest of the Wagner Group”.
Kidnap target: millionaire Russian dissident Yevgeny Chichvarkin
Penny said: “It appears that Dylan Earl expressed a willingness to undertake ‘missions’ of which the Leyton arson attack was the first. It is apparent that [he] knew he was acting against Ukrainian, and for Russian, interests.”
British authorities have accused Russia of being behind a number of spy plots and sabotage missions. The Kremlin has denied these accusations, and its embassy in London has rejected any part in the warehouse fire.
Wagner had been heavily engaged in the earlier part of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, until its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny in 2023.
Prosecutor Penny said the jury would hear expert evidence that the group and its activities, which included sabotage in Europe, were now under the direct command of the Russian government.
He told the court the men on trial might have been ignorant of the political dimension and were motivated by greed over the warehouse blaze.
The jury was shown messages between the men which Penny said showed their involvement, as well as footage from security cameras and their own phones which he said showed the men travelling to the warehouse and starting the fire with petrol.
The trial continues. It is expected to last up to five weeks.
Read more: Croydon men arrested connected to Russian spying allegations
Read more: Croydon man pleads guilty in ‘Russian spy ring’ arson case
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Whatever they are, if motivated by their Putinphilia or simply mindless greed, they are the enemy within.
From everything we’ve seen in evidence so far, and there has been no case for the defence as yet, they appear to be greedy cretins.
Got to say I did see some charachter at East Croydon Station in a leather jacket with a big Z emblem on the back of it just after Putin’s invasion.
Fifth-columnists! Reds under the bed! Is ‘Cardinal’ Newman involved???
Why isn’t this in the national press? Russian paying for an act they themselves would call terrorism.
A quick search finds the story on FT, Independent, BBC, Sky, Torygraph, Heil, about 94 Retch sites, I could go on..