Dylan Earl, the architect of a Wagner Group arson attack on a warehouse storing aid for Ukraine, has been ordered to pay more than £160,000 to his victims.
Earl, 22, admitted aggravated arson and a charge under the National Security Act after fire destroyed industrial units in Leyton, east London, on March 20 2024, causing about £1 million in damage. The warehouse was targeted by the terrorist Wagner Group because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.
Role in terrorist campaign
Earl was one of six young men said to be working as proxies for the Wagner Group and convicted of their part in a “planned campaign of terrorism and sabotage” in the interests of the Russian state.
He was arrested in a B&Q car park in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and videos of the warehouse fire being started were found on his iPhone. In a search of his home, police recovered a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of £34,000.
Evidence on his phone revealed details of a cryptocurrency account holding more than £58,000 and images of bundles of cash estimated to total £175,000.
Confiscation hearing
Last October, the drug dealer from Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire, was jailed for 17 years and a further six years on extended licence for his “leading role” in the terrorist activities.
On Friday, Earl returned to the Old Bailey and appeared via videolink from Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire for a confiscation hearing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC. The court was told Earl had also pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property in the form of cash found at his home and having the class A drug cannabis with intent to supply.
Prosecutor Adam Payter said an investigation had found his ill-gotten gains totalled £698,816.18p. But the money available to be seized by the court was £164,301.13p including an amount of cryptocurrency held by Earl.
Compensation ordered
Judge Lucraft ordered that amount to be confiscated and then paid in compensation to the victims of the arson attack. He awarded the sum of £163,521 to Meest UK Ltd and £780 to the owner of Neck Stamper brewery, based in a next door unit which was also damaged by fire.
Judge Lucraft ordered the money to be paid in three months with a default penalty of 18 months in prison.
