By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) -A man pleaded guilty on Friday to carrying out an arson attack on a London commercial property linked to Ukraine and an offence under the National Security Act in a case prosecutors have linked to Russia.
Dylan Earl, 20, admitted a charge of aggravated arson on the premises belonging to a “Mr X” on an industrial estate in east London in March, with the intent of destroying the building and being reckless as to whether lives would be endangered.
He also pleaded guilty to engaging in preparations for “an act endangering the life of a person or an act creating serious risk to the health or safety of the public in the United Kingdom” under the new National Security Act (NSA), brought in last year to crack down on hostile activity by foreign states.
Earl denied a further charge under the NSA of assisting a foreign intelligence service and prosecutor Duncan Penny said the third charge would not be pursued.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement when the men were charged that Earl was “alleged to have engaged in conduct targeting businesses which were linked to Ukraine in order to benefit the Russian state”.
Britain’s relations with Russia have been at their most hostile in decades over Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and there have been a number of tit-for-tat accusations of spying. The UK’s domestic spy chief accused Russian intelligence service of seeking to cause “mayhem”, including by using arson.
Three other men, Paul English, 60, Nii Kojo Menash, 21, and Jakeem Rose, 22, denied the aggravated arson charge.
Two others, Ugnius Asmena, 19, and Jake Reeves, 22, did not enter a plea to the same offence on Friday. Reeves is also accused of accepting a “material benefit”, namely money, from a foreign intelligence service but has not yet entered a plea.
A seventh man, Dmitrijus Paulauskas, pleaded not guilty at a hearing earlier this month to knowing about terrorist acts but failing to disclose the information.
The men are due to go on trial over the outstanding charges in June next year.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Sarah Young)
