A jury at London’s Old Bailey on 8 July convicted Jakeem Rose, Nii Kojo Mensah and Ugnius Asmena of aggravated arson for torching an east-London warehouse on behalf of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. The verdicts mark the first time Britons have been found guilty of carrying out an attack in the United Kingdom for the proscribed organisation. Prosecutors said the three men travelled from south London on 20 March 2024, poured petrol across two units at the Cromwell Industrial Estate in Leyton and set them alight, destroying generators and Starlink satellite terminals destined for Ukraine. The blaze caused about £1 million in damage and required eight fire engines and 60 firefighters to contain, though no injuries were reported. Two organisers of the plot—Dylan Earl, 21, and Jake Reeves, 23—had already admitted aggravated arson and offences under the National Security Act 2023, the first convictions secured under the new legislation created to counter state-backed threats. Evidence showed the pair were directed via Telegram by a Wagner handler known as “Privet Bot”, who also tasked them with planning attacks on a Mayfair wine shop and restaurant and the kidnapping of their owner, Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin. Those plots were foiled by counter-terrorism police. Metropolitan Police Commander Dominic Murphy said the case illustrates how Russian intelligence is turning to criminal proxies after the 2018 Salisbury poisonings curtailed its spy network. Sentencing for all convicted defendants will take place later this year.