He boasted, ‘I can be the best spy you have ever seen.’
But Russia’s Wagner group soon discovered that Dylan Earl was no James Bond.
Now after the hapless arsonists he recruited were convicted yesterday, the extraordinary story can be told of how a part-time drug dealer living at home with his parents managed to orchestrate the first Wagner Group attack on British soil.
From his bedroom in Elmesthorpein Leicestershire, the Putin fan who could barely speak 30 words of Russian, managed to assemble a motley crew of Britons to torch a London warehouse causing £1million of damage, destroying generators and vital Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine.
The 20-year-old builder and cocaine dealer was given the codename of ‘SAS’ and billed as Wagner’s ‘dagger in Europe’ after Earl told the terror group of his grand plans to do ‘something big’ for the Kremlin, boasting he could build a ‘link’ between the Wagner Group, IRA and notorious Kinahan crime cartel.
But the bungling arsonists Earl recruited, who ranged from criminals to a cleaner, did such a bad job on March 20 last year that the Russians refused to pay them, saying the arson attack was not up to Wagner’s ‘standards’.
His henchmen, Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, Jakeem Barrington Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, forgot to film themselves burning the warehouse in Leyton, East London after fleeing in a Kia Picanto which had to be ‘bump started’ with a set of pliers to turn the ignition key.
They were forced to return to the scene just to livestream it for the Russians, which resulted in the gang being captured on CCTV and Rose also dropped a knife with his DNA on it before fire crews arrived to bring the blaze under control.
Fire at the warehouse in Leyton was carried out by the gang and destroyed more than £100,000 of kit
Video of the arson attack was streamed online and carried out by a group hired by Wagner
Dylan Earl, 20, was the ringleader of the group
But in a chilling illustration of Russia’s appetite for inflicting chaos in the UK, despite the attack not matching Earl’s lofty promises, Wagner operatives were prepared to send him on an even bigger mission to kidnap billionaire Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.
When police swooped last April, Earl was preparing to firebomb his Mayfair restaurant and wine shop worth £30million.
Yesterday Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said the astonishing case showed how Russia was prepared to buy criminal proxies to carry out their dirty work in the UK.
Earl was the first person to be convicted under the new National Security Act last year after police uncovered messages revealing how the drug dealer, who kept a Russian flag in his room, contacted a Telegram channel known as a mouthpiece for Wagner.
‘I been wanting to come Russia. I need a fresh start bro,’ Earl said.
‘Do I need to be able to speak Russian though because that’s not the best? Literally know 30 words, if that.’
Jake Reeves, of Croydon, pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act 2023
Gang members Jakeem Barrington Rose, 23 (left) and Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, have both been convicted
Pictured is the aftermath of the blaze that ripped through the warehouse in Leyton
A Wagner automated chatbot responded: ‘Hello friend. How are you? We would like you to help us in Europe. What can you do in Europe, what actions? We need those who are our kindred spirit.’
Earl was instructed to watch a Cold War drama about KGB spies as a ‘manual’, with the The Americans TV series about KGB agents undercover in the US suggested as an aid to help him organise ‘partisan cells’ in the UK.
Earl, whose Signal handle was John Wick’s nickname, Baba Yaga, from the hit movies starring Keanu Reeves, bragged: ‘If you need connections with IRA, I can sort it.
‘You want criminal connections with murderers, kidnappers, soldiers, drug dealers, fraudsters, car thieves- I can sort it all.’
He promised, ‘I know I can be the best spy you have ever seen’, saying he had ‘hundreds of people who respect me and do everything I ask of them’.
Excitedly, he told the Russians: ‘I can bring you great power and connections…I can get integrated with political connections and criminal figures of the highest level in Europe and South America…I am offering you everything: ways to make tens of millions of pounds, doing any country, all fires etc, spy operations in my country against individuals, business, government… I can provide you with hundreds of soldiers and access to big criminal organisations. Everything you want.’
The attack was caught on CCTV as the gang ran away. A fire can be seen in the background
Pictured are Mensah and Rose carrying a Jerry can of fuel used to help ignite the fire
But the gang Earl recruited with the promise of a mere £1,000 were hardly soldiers.
Jake Reeves, 23, from Croydon, was working as a Gatwick aircraft cleaner and volunteering for criminal jobs on a Telegram group after failing his GCSEs and becoming obsessed with the gangster lifestyle portrayed on the game Grand Theft Auto.
Reeves brought in his former college friends, Rose, who already had criminal convictions and Mensah.
Asmena, a Lithuanian living with his drug-addicted mother in a squat in Roehampton, South London also volunteered.
Yesterday Rose, Mensah and Asmena were convicted of aggravated arson after an Old Bailey trial.
Reeves pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to the same offence and agreeing to accept money from a foreign intelligence service
Pictured are screen grabs of the conversation the defendants had about the plot
Ashton Evans, 20, an IT student and part-time drug dealer from Newport, Gwent, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts after Earl attempted to recruit him for the Mayfair attack.
A lorry driver was later caught on camera attempting to extinguish the blaze at the unit
The driver was seen on CCTV using a fire extinguisher to try and quell the flames
Commander Murphy said: ‘This case is clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ – in this case British men – to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf.
‘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.
‘Those involved showed little or no regard for the potential impact of their actions on the UK’s wider security. 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.’
Pictured is the aftermath of the blaze which ripped through the industrial unit
The fire caused £100,00 of damage to vital Starlink equipment due to be sent to Ukraine
Pictured is the car which jurors heard took the gang to their location
