The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Man accused of organising arson attacksnd
ABriton is accused of orchestrating arson attacks on Ukrainian-linked businesses in London for the proscribed terror organisation the Wagner Group.
Dylan Earl, 20, is charged under the National Security Act 2023 – the first case to involve alleged offences under the new spy laws.
He is accused of being in contact with a Wagner Group handler before carrying out reconnaissance of targets “in relation to activity intended to benefit Russia”.
Court documents show Earl is accused of recruiting and paying others to carry out an arson attack at an industrial unit in Leyton, east London – Ukrainianlinked businesses owned by Oddisey and Meest UK.
The March 20 blaze required 60 firefighters to control it, and the alleged target of the fire is labelled as “Mr X” in the charges.
Mr Justice Jeremy Baker ordered that reporting restrictions be lifted yesterday, which coincided with two co-defendants of Earl facing Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
One of them, Jake Reeves, 22, is accused of accepting cash, knowing it was from a foreign intelligence service.
He was remanded into custody and appeared with Dmitrijus Paulauska, also 22, who is charged with failing to disclose information to police of terrorist acts.
Two other defendants, 60-year-old Paul English and 21-year-old Nii Mensah, have also been charged with aggravated arson.
All five men are to appear at the Old Bailey for a further hearing on May 10 and have yet to enter pleas.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “This is a highly significant moment and investigation for us.
“Not only are the charges that have been authorised by the CPS extremely serious, but it is also the first time that we have arrested, and now charged, anyone using the powers and legislation brought in under the National Security Act.
“While these are very serious allegations, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them in connection with this matter.”
The Wagner Group is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, whose former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last summer.
Mr Prigozhin and his troops staged a shortlived coup in Moscow last June.
Earl, of Elmesthorpe, is charged with aggravated arson reckless as to whether life will be endangered, contrary to the Criminal Damage Act 1971; preparatory conduct to an act endangering life or a person or an act creating a serious risk to the health and safety of the UK public contrary to the National Security Act 2023, and assisting a foreign intelligence service under the same act.
Reeves, of Croydon, London, faces the same arson charge, plus agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service, under the National Security Act 2023.
English, of Roehampton, London, and Mensah, of Thornton Heath, London, are also charged with aggravated arson, while Paulauska, of Croydon, London, is accused of having information about terrorist acts, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.