Ringleader behind Russia-linked UK arson jailed for 17 years
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Dylan Earl (left) committed arson in Britain on behalf of Russia's Wagner mercenary group.
PHOTOS: METROPOLITAN POLICE, LONDON FIRE BRIGADE
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- Dylan Earl, arson ringleader targeting Ukraine-linked firms in London, received a 17-year sentence for terrorism and sabotage.
- Earl admitted to arson and discussed kidnapping a Revolut co-founder and torching a Czech warehouse with Wagner.
- Judge Cheema-Grubb called their actions "treason," sentencing Reeves to 12 years while four others were also convicted.
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LONDON - The ringleader of an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London in 2024 was jailed for 17 years on Oct 24, for what prosecutors described as “a sustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage on UK soil”.
Dylan Earl, 21, admitted aggravated arson over the 2024 blaze which targeted companies delivering satellite equipment from Elon Musk’s Starlink to Ukraine.
Prosecutors said on Oct 23 that he also discussed with his handler from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to kidnap the co-founder of finance app Revolut
Earl appeared in the dock at London’s Old Bailey court alongside Jake Reeves, 23, who had also pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and a National Security Act charge of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence agency.
“This case is all about the efforts of the Russian Federation to gain pernicious global influence using social media to enlist saboteurs vast distances from Moscow,” Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said.
She sentenced Earl to 17 years in prison for arson and National Security Act charges, along with a separate drugs charge. Reeves was sentenced to 12 years.
“Our parents and grandparents would have had a simple term for what Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves did: treason,” Judge Cheema-Grubb added.
Earl and Reeves were sentenced with four others
