Retired Engineer Sentenced for Bombing Climate Spy Camera

A retired electrical engineer in his 60s has received a 15-year prison sentence after being convicted of bombing a climate surveillance camera in London. The sentencing took place at the Old Bailey, where Judge Anthony Bate found 64-year-old Kevin Rees guilty of causing an explosion that could have endangered lives or damaged property, along with multiple counts of possessing prohibited weapons, specifically homemade stun guns resembling tasers.

Rees maintained his innocence throughout the trial, but evidence showed he was involved in Facebook groups that opposed the installation of smart surveillance cameras linked to London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone, an initiative by Mayor Sadiq Khan. This program targets older, more polluting vehicles, imposing significant daily charges on their owners who wish to drive in London.

Many critics labeled these cameras as “climate spy cameras,” arguing that the fees disproportionately affect blue-collar workers who rely on diesel trucks and have no alternative means of transporting their tools and materials.

Activist groups identifying as ‘blade runners’ have engaged in acts of sabotage against these cameras, often damaging them on the day they were installed. Numerous cameras have been vandalized as part of this campaign.

However, Rees’s actions escalated. In December 2023, he used an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a camera in Sidcup, Kent. The explosion was powerful enough to damage vehicles and homes in the vicinity. The court heard that a part of the camera was propelled over 100 meters into a house, and it was only by luck that no serious injuries occurred.

The IED involved a metal cylinder packed with explosive powder and equipped with a basic fuse. Authorities from London’s Metropolitan Police suggested there was a terrorism aspect to the case, highlighting Rees’s commitment to opposing the ULEZ scheme. While no explosives were found at his residence, police discovered a chemical price list, along with materials that could potentially be used for creating low explosive mixtures during raids linked to Rees.

As described earlier, the backlash against the ULEZ cameras led the London city government to deploy mobile surveillance units and, reportedly, groups of masked enforcers to curb civil resistance targeting the camera infrastructure.