Two men were convicted over arson attacks on a car and properties linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in north London last year.
Two men have been found guilty of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on a car and properties connected to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after fires were set in north London last year.
Roman Lavrynovych, a 22-year-old Ukrainian national, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Ukrainian-born Romanian national, were convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit arson. All three men live in London and had denied conspiring together and with others to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13, 2025.
The case centered on three fires in May 2025. On May 8, a Toyota that had previously belonged to Starmer was found burning on a street where he had once lived in Kentish Town. Three days later, a fire was discovered at flats linked to him in nearby Islington, where he had lived years earlier. On May 12, a fire was set at the entrance to a Kentish Town home owned by Starmer and rented to his sister-in-law, who was inside with her family at the time.
Prosecutors told the court that Lavrynovych carried out the attacks after being recruited online by a Russian-speaking Telegram user who used the alias “El Money” and promised payment. The contact had previously tasked him with putting up far-right posters, the court heard, but Lavrynovych never received the thousands he had been promised for the arson attacks.
Jurors were told they did not need to decide who “El Money” was or why the attacks were coordinated. Prosecutors also said the defendants had not shown a clear political or ideological motive, and that it did not matter whether they knew the targets were connected to the prime minister.
Lavrynovych was acquitted of damaging property by fire with intent to endanger life in relation to the May 11 and May 12 fires at two north London properties. He was instead convicted of alternate counts of damaging property by fire while being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
A Downing Street spokesperson called the incidents “an abhorrent attack” and thanked investigators and prosecutors.
During the trial, Lavrynovych’s lawyers sought wider information from prosecutors about “El Money,” including whether the contact was linked to intelligence services or was a state informant. The defense argued that the contact’s conduct was “redolent of tradecraft,” a term used for spying techniques, and said Lavrynovych claimed he had felt intimidated and acted under duress.
The judge refused the request, ruling that the material was irrelevant to the issues for the jury because Lavrynovych did not know anything about the contact’s possible connections at the time.
The trial focused on the defendants’ alleged financial motives rather than establishing the identity or purpose of the person behind the Telegram account. Separately, the BBC reported that a Panorama investigation found evidence suggesting “El Money” was Evgeny Lyukshin, a 23-year-old Russian diplomat and the son of a senior official. The BBC said its investigation found that the contact offered Russian citizenship in return for other attacks and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in messages.
For the criminal case, the jury’s verdict resolved the charges against the three London-based defendants, while the identity and motives of the online handler remained outside the central findings of the trial.
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