Roehampton Man Cleared of Involvement in Wagner Group Attack

Paul English not guilty of arson at Ukrainian aid warehouse

Rose and Mensah using jerry cans to start the fire. Picture: Met Police

July 8, 2025

A 61-year-old man from Roehampton who was accused inadvertently assisting an attack on UK soil by the Russian mercenary group Wagner has been found not guilty this Tuesday (8 July).

Paul English was one of six people in the court at the Old Bailey charged in connection with an arson attack on a warehouse in east London which was sending aid and internet satellite equipment to Ukraine.

The fire was initially investigated by local Met officers in Waltham Forest. However, after officers became aware that another warehouse belonging to the same Ukrainian company was also subject to an arson attack in Madrid, Spain, detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command took over the investigation.

Mr English had faced an aggravated arson charge after the prosecution said that he had collected one of the arsonists and drove him to the scene. However, it was never alleged that he was aware that he was working for a hostile foreign power.

Nobody was hurt in the fire at the Cromwell Industrial Estate in Leyton which was started just before midnight on 20 March 2024. The fire took hold despite the attempt of a lorry driver parked nearby to put it out and around £1million worth of damage was caused.

An aerial view of the damage the following day. Picture: Met Police

The attack had been orchestrated by 20-year-old Dylan Earl and 23-year-old Jake Reeves who had both admitted previously that they had been working with the Wagner Group which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. They had used the messaging app Telegram to communicate with their Russian handlers. Earl became the first person to be convicted of a new offence under the National Security Act, passed by parliament in 2023. He was also involved in plots to burn down Mayfair businesses and kidnap their Russian dissident owner.

Jakeem Rose, 23, Ugnius Asmena, 20, Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, were found guilty of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life. Mensah and Rose were captured on CCTV and the livestream video made by Mensah which he streamed on Facebook as they set the warehouse alight.

A fifth man, Ashton Evans was found guilty of one count of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts, but cleared of failing to tell authorities about the warehouse arson.

A sixth man, Dmitrijus Paulauskas was found not guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, 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. I am pleased that, working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, we were able to use the new National Security Act legislation, which meant the severity of Earl and Reeves’s offending was reflected in the charges they faced.

“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.”