Man admits torching Ukraine-linked business in UK, taking pay from foreign intelligence

LONDON (Reuters) – A British man admitted on Friday that he carried out an arson attack on a London commercial property linked to Ukraine, and that he had accepted pay from a foreign intelligence agency, in a case prosecutors have linked to Russia.

Jake Reeves, 22, pleaded guilty at London’s Woolwich Crown Court to charges of aggravated arson on the premises belonging to a “Mr X” on an industrial estate in east London in March.

He also admitted a charge under Britain’s new National Security Act (NSA) of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service.

He denied a further charge under the NSA of engaging in preparations for an act endangering the life of a person or creating serious risk to the health or safety of the public, and prosecutors said they would not pursue that charge.

Last month another man, Dylan Earl, 20, also admitted carrying out the arson attack. He pleaded guilty to a preparatory act under the NSA, which was brought in last year to crack down on hostile activity by foreign states.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement when the men were charged in April that Earl’s actions were for the benefit of the Russian state. Prosecutor Duncan Penny gave no further details about the case against Reeves.

Three other men have also denied the aggravated arson charge, while a further suspect has yet to enter a plea. A seventh man has denied a charge of knowing about terrorist acts but failing to disclose the information to police.

A trial over those outstanding charges is due to be held in June next year. Earl and Reeves will be sentenced after that trial.

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 services of seeking to cause “mayhem”, including by using arson.