Man offered Ukrainians money to carry out Starmer arson attacks, court hears

A Russian speaker recruited and offered money to Ukrainian men to carry out arson attacks on properties connected to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a court has heard.

Ukrainian nationals Roman Lavrynovych 22, and Petro Pochynok, 35, are accused of targeting two properties and a car linked to the PM, along with Ukrainian-born Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 27. They deny all the charges.

All three, who live in London, are charged with conspiring together - and "with others" - to damage property by fire between 1 April and 13 May 2025.

Lavrynovych is also charged with damaging property by fire with intent to endanger life on 11 and 12 May 2025 at two properties in north London connected to Sir Keir.

He faces alternate counts of damaging property by fire being reckless as to whether life is endangered.

On 8 May 2025, a car previously owned by the prime minister was found on fire on a street he previously lived on in Kentish Town, north London. Three days later, a fire was discovered at flats linked to Sir Keir in nearby Islington.

On 12 May 2025, a fire was discovered at the entrance to Sir Keir's Kentish Town home, which was being rented out.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said: "This case concerns a series of three fires that were deliberately set in a residential area of North London over three nights in May last year."

He said "three fires in the same area within five days would be pretty unusual" but that "fires all involving property linked to the same person were beyond a coincidence".

He said in this case, the car had once belonged to Sir Keir, one house was managed by a company of which the prime minister had once been director and shareholder, and the other house still belonged to the prime minister and was occupied by his sister-in-law.

He added: "The evidence demonstrated that there was here no coincidence. Rather, the vehicle and properties in question had been targeted, and the acts of arson at these locations had been planned and directed, with those involved promised payment for their participation."

The prosecutor said analysis of messages from phones recovered from, and connected with, the defendants showed "communication between them before and during the relevant period".

He said Lavrynovych was offered payment to set the fires by a contact using the name or pseudonym 'El Money' on the Telegram messaging app. He said Carpiuc also communicated with 'El Money'.

Atkinson said that 'El Money' communicated in Russian, in contrast to the Ukrainian otherwise used by the defendants.

He told jurors that it is "no part of your considerations" to decide who 'El Money' is and what reason he might have had to co-ordinate the alleged actions of the defendants.

He added that is because jurors do not have to decide what motivated the three defendants.

He said the defendants had not demonstrated any particular political or ideological motivation, as opposed to a financial one, and it does not matter whether they knew that the property they were allegedly targeting was connected to the prime minister or whether that formed part of their motivation.

Atkinson said that messages from May 2025 show Lavrynovych had been discussing a "job" with El Money and Carpiuc.

He said the conversations were an "obvious reference" to a plan to target Sir Keir's former Toyota car, already identified in October 2024 when Lavrynovych sent the location and image of the car to an Instagram user.

The jury was played CCTV footage of Lavrynovych in a south London B&Q on 6 May 2025 buying white spirit, which Atkinson described an "accelerant".

He said fragments of evidence found on Lavrynovych's phone suggest he may have sent a "targeting pack, explaining where to go and what to do, together with a means or promise of payment in cryptocurrency".

Atkinson added that in the early hours of that morning, 7 May - 24 hours before the car was set on fire - Lavrynovych travelled from home to north London and back.

Lavrynovych was caught on bus CCTV and his phone data shows that he went to the area where the car was parked. An image of the car, timed at 03:08 BST, that Atkinson said was found on Lavrynovych's phone.

"He was making a reconnaissance trip to prepare for the following night," Atkinson claimed.