A 61-year-old man from Putney has been cleared of terrorism-related charges in a major trial at the Old Bailey, while a second man originally from Wandsworth has been convicted for his role in a Russian-orchestrated arson attack that caused over £1 million in damage.
Paul Adrian English, of Roehampton, was found not guilty of aggravated arson after prosecutors alleged he had driven three younger men to the site of a warehouse fire in Leyton, east London, in the early hours of 20 March 2024. The warehouse, owned by a Ukrainian-run company, was used to dispatch humanitarian aid and Starlink equipment to Ukraine.
English, who is 40 years older than most of the other defendants, denied knowing the purpose of the trip. The court accepted that he had not known he was facilitating a terrorist act, nor that the attack was orchestrated by Russia’s Wagner Group – a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. His acquittal follows more than a year of proceedings in which his health temporarily deteriorated, leading to a brief hospitalisation during the early hearings.
In contrast, Ugnius Asmena, 21, who grew up in Wandsworth, was convicted of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life, alongside co-defendants Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, of Thornton Heath, and Jakeem Rose, 23, of Croydon. The trio were captured on CCTV arriving at the scene in a red Kia Picanto and then fleeing as the fire spread. The blaze gutted the building despite attempts by a nearby lorry driver to extinguish it.
Russian plot exposed
The arson attack was masterminded by Dylan Earl, 21, from Leicestershire, and Jake Reeves, 23, from Croydon, who had both admitted acting under the direction of the Russian state. The pair communicated with handlers from the Wagner Group via encrypted Telegram messages, using aliases including “Privet Bot” and “Lucky Strike.”
Earl and Reeves became the first people in the UK convicted under the National Security Act 2023, having pleaded guilty to acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service and aggravated arson. Earl also admitted to plotting additional attacks on luxury venues in Mayfair, and to kidnap the Russian dissident who owns them, with the aim of returning him to Russia “to face prison.”
Prosecutors said Earl recruited his network by offering payments and assigning tasks. Messages retrieved from his phone revealed discussions about using explosives in future attacks and livestream footage showed Mensah and Rose broadcasting the warehouse fire back to Earl and Reeves in real time.
Other verdicts
- Ashton Evans, 20, of Newport, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about the Mayfair plot but cleared in relation to the warehouse arson. He had earlier pleaded guilty to supplying Class A drugs.
- Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, of Croydon, was acquitted of two counts of failing to disclose information about terrorist activity.
- Rose also admitted to carrying a knife, which he left at the scene of the arson.
The group’s activities were initially investigated by local officers in Waltham Forest. However, after a second arson attack on the same Ukrainian company’s warehouse in Madrid, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command took over the case. The scale and coordination of the plan raised deep concerns among UK intelligence officials and led to the first use of new counter-espionage legislation.
“No regard for UK security”
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:
“The ringleaders – Earl and Reeves – willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state. The warehouse arson put members of the public at great risk, and it was only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse.
Seemingly motivated by the promise of money, they were prepared to commit criminal acts on behalf of Russia. I hope these convictions send a strong warning of the very serious consequences of committing offences on behalf of a foreign country.”
All those convicted will be sentenced at the Old Bailey at a later date.
