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

Man offered Ukrainians money to carry out Starmer arson attacks, court hears 31 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleDaniel De Simoneat the Old BaileyBBCThe three men charged (from left to right): Petro Pochynok, Roman Lavrynovych and Stanislav CarpiucA 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 hous...