Man Denies Involvement in Explosion of ULEZ Camera in Sidcup

A 63-year-old man accused of causing an explosion at an ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) camera in south-east London has told a court he believed his arrest was related to his posts on anti-ULEZ Facebook groups.

Kevin Rees, a retired domestic appliance engineer, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court facing charges of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property, along with three counts of possessing prohibited weapons. He denied all charges.

Rees said he assumed police were detaining him over online activity, not the camera incident: “People you hear being arrested for making bad or inappropriate comments on Facebook pages – that’s well-known. I didn’t actually do anything wrong.”

Jurors heard that the camera in Willersley Avenue, Sidcup, had already been damaged earlier that day by Stephen Harwood-Stamper, who later pleaded guilty to criminal damage. Harwood-Stamper cut down the camera pole before someone caused the device to explode once it was on the ground. Rees said he had never met or spoken to Harwood-Stamper and first learned of the explosion through a local news Facebook group.

When police interviewed him, Rees said he was at a friend’s house fitting a kitchen on the evening of December 6. CCTV footage, however, showed him leaving the property mid-afternoon. Rees told jurors: “I was 100% convinced I was at his house – as I still am now, in my head, but I have seen CCTV of me leaving, so obviously I was not there.”

Rees admitted to following anti-ULEZ groups out of boredom and a sense of community: “I’m retired, not much else to do – [it] didn’t particularly interest me that much.”

The prosecution also alleged that three stun guns were discovered at Rees’s home following his arrest.