Retired engineer Kevin Rees convicted of blowing up ULEZ camera with homemade bomb

A man has been found guilty of blowing up an ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) camera using a homemade bomb.

Retired electrical appliances engineer Kevin Rees was found to have damaged a camera in Willersley Avenue, Sidcup, in southeast London, by using a low-sophistication, improvised explosive device at 6.45pm on 6 December 2023.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Rees guilty of one count of causing an explosion likely to endanger life on Wednesday.

The explosion damaged cars and property up to 100m away, including a child's bedroom, the Metropolitan Police said.

ULEZ cameras allow Transport for London to monitor cars that enter the zone where drivers are required to pay depending on how polluting their vehicles are.

The cameras have become the targets of frequent vandalism after the ULEZ area was expanded to cover all of London in 2023 in a bid to improve London's air quality.

Jurors heard how investigators identified that Rees had travelled in his car from his home in Sidcup to Shuttle Close shortly after 6.20pm on the day of the explosion.

The ULEZ camera had been installed earlier that day, but had been cut down by another individual in an unrelated incident.

Rees walked from his car to the camera, planted the device and lit the fuse, police said. A witness saw him walking away from the scene.

Police arrested Rees at his home on 18 December.

Three home-made stun guns were found at his address, leading to Rees being convicted by the jury of three counts of possessing a prohibited weapon.

Rees's social media activity showed that he had posted multiple times about ULEZ cameras and encouraged damaging them, police said.

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Detective Superintendent James Derham said: "It was miraculous that nobody was killed or seriously injured in the large explosion caused by Rees.

"He showed a complete disregard for the welfare and safety of the people who live in, or were travelling through, the area at the time of the explosion - all because he was unhappy with the ULEZ scheme."

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's counter terrorism division, said: "This was not an act of protest or momentary vandalism. This was a deliberate and dangerous attack involving a home-made explosive device, carried out in a residential street and designed to destroy public infrastructure.

"Kevin Rees knowingly and intentionally placed an explosive device next to the ULEZ camera, lit the fuse and retreated before the explosion, showing clear planning and an obvious disregard for the safety of others.

"Whatever his views on the ULEZ scheme, Kevin Rees crossed a serious line by constructing a home-made bomb and detonating it in a public place. It was pure chance that no-one suffered serious injury or worse."

Rees will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court at a later date.

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