Retired electrical engineer Kevin Rees, 63, faces serious charges at Woolwich Crown Court. He’s accused of blowing up a ULEZ camera on Willersley Avenue with a crude homemade bomb on the evening of December 6, 2023.
CCTV Captures Eerie Timeline
CCTV shows Rees leaving his Harcourt Avenue home at 6.25pm carrying a “bag of tools.” He returned 40 minutes later without it. When grilled by prosecutor Simon Denison KC, Rees claimed he had no memory of where he was during that window. “It’s almost a blank,” he admitted.
Rees told counter terrorism officers he’d been at a friend’s house that evening. But footage contradicted that, showing he left the friend’s place mid-afternoon and didn’t return later. “I was not at his,” Rees insisted despite clear evidence. “But still, in my head, I was at his, for some reason.”
Tools, Screenshots and Silent Alibis
When asked about the mysterious bag of tools, Rees said it was for a job at a friend’s house, but couldn’t name who. Under pressure, he admitted he must have left the tools behind somewhere that night – but he had no idea where.
Minutes after his return, Rees snapped screenshots of local news and Facebook posts about a loud bang and the ULEZ camera being blown up. These screenshots mysteriously vanished the next day, which he blamed on accidental deletion due to his phone’s swipe function.
“If you had actually checked, you would find that I have deleted dozens and dozens at the same time, but these are the only ones you printed out,” Rees told the court.
Rees openly admitted his hatred for the ULEZ scheme and Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying: “I dislike him, dislike what he has done to London.”
Damage Chaos and Multiple Charges
The court heard the camera had already been vandalised earlier that day by another man, Stephen Harwood-Stamper, who admitted criminal damage. The explosion came later, when the camera was already on the ground.
Rees denies any contact with Harwood-Stamper and claims he only found out about the explosion from a local Facebook group.
He faces one count of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, plus three counts of possessing prohibited weapons, linked to stun guns found in his home after his arrest.
The trial is ongoing.
