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.
Dylan Earl, 22, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday by videolink from HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire for a confiscation hearing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC. He is already serving a 17-year prison sentence, with a further six years on extended licence, for his leading role in the attack.
Prosecutor Adam Payter told the court that an investigation had found Earl’s ill-gotten gains totalled £698,816.18. But the sum available to be seized — including an amount of cryptocurrency held by Earl — was £164,301.13. Judge Lucraft ordered that amount to be confiscated and paid in compensation to the victims of the arson.
Meest UK Ltd, the logistics company whose Leyton premises were targeted, will receive £163,521. A further £780 will go to the owner of the Neck Stamper brewery, based in a neighbouring unit that was also damaged by the fire. Earl has three months to pay, with a default sentence of 18 months in prison if he fails to do so.
The Leyton warehouse fire
On 20 March 2024, fire tore through industrial units in Leyton, east London, causing damage estimated at about £1 million. Earl admitted aggravated arson and an offence under the National Security Act over the blaze.
The warehouse had been singled out by the Wagner Group because it was being used to supply humanitarian aid and Starlink satellite equipment to Ukraine. Earl was one of six young men said to have acted as proxies for the Russian mercenary organisation in what was described in court as 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, after detectives found videos on his iPhone showing the warehouse fire being started. A search of his home in Elmesthorpe uncovered a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of £34,000. Evidence on his phone also revealed a cryptocurrency account holding more than £58,000, along with images of bundles of cash estimated to total £175,000.
The blaze is one of several arson attacks to have come before London courts in the past year — two teenagers were jailed for 10 years for a petrol bomb attack on a restaurant in Gants Hill.
Last October, Earl — described in court as a drug dealer from Elmesthorpe — was jailed for 17 years, with six years on extended licence, for his leading role in the terrorist activities.
Earl’s drug dealing and criminal property
The confiscation hearing also dealt with Earl’s wider criminality. The court was told he had pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property, in the form of the cash found at his home, and to possessing the class A drug cannabis with intent to supply.
How the confiscation order works
A confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is not a fine, nor is it a second sentence for the same offence. It is designed to strip offenders of the financial benefit of their crimes. Similar orders are a routine tool at London courts — a Woodford Green people smuggler was recently ordered to repay £290,000 or face more time in jail.
The process works in two stages. First, the court calculates a “benefit figure” — the total the offender is assessed to have gained, here £698,816.18. Second, it assesses the “available amount”: what can realistically be seized. For Earl that was £164,301.13, including cryptocurrency. The judge may only order payment of the available amount.
If Earl fails to pay within three months, he faces a default sentence of 18 months. Serving that additional time would not wipe out the debt — the £164,301.13 would remain owed and enforceable against any assets he obtains in future.
Timeline: the Wagner arson case
- 20 March 2024 — fire destroys industrial units in Leyton, east London, causing about £1 million in damage
- 2024–2025 — Earl is arrested in a B&Q car park in Hinckley and later admits aggravated arson and a National Security Act offence
- October 2025 — jailed for 17 years, with six years on extended licence, for his leading role in the terrorist activities
- 2 October 2026 — confiscation hearing at the Old Bailey; Earl is ordered to pay £164,301.13 in compensation within three months
The order marks the financial reckoning for an attack prosecutors said was carried out in the interests of a foreign state. It follows a run of significant sentences at the Old Bailey, including 20 years for a Streatham man over rapes, coercive control and child cruelty.
