A trial has opened at the Old Bailey revealing that a series of arson attacks on properties connected to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in May 2025 were planned and paid for by an unidentified Russian-speaking individual who recruited Ukrainian men through the Telegram messaging app and promised them money to carry out the attacks. The case puts a deliberate and financially motivated conspiracy at the centre of what police initially treated as three separate fires in north London over five days.As reported by the BBC, three men are currently on trial in connection with the attacks. Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Petro Pochynok, 35, are Ukrainian nationals. Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, is a Ukrainian-born Romanian national. All three live in London and all three deny the charges against them. They are charged with conspiring together and with others to damage property by fire between 1 April and 13 May 2025. Lavrynovych faces additional charges of damaging property by fire with intent to endanger life.Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the jury that three fires in the same area of north London within five days would already be unusual. Three fires all targeting property connected to the same individual went beyond coincidence entirely. On 8 May 2025 a car previously owned by Starmer was found burning on a street in Kentish Town where he had previously lived. Three days later a fire broke out at flats in nearby Islington connected to the prime minister. The following night on May 12 a fire was discovered at the entrance to Starmer’s Kentish Town home which was being rented out at the time and was occupied by his sister-in-law.The prosecution said the person directing the operation communicated using the name or pseudonym El Money on Telegram. The messages were written in Russian which stood in contrast to the Ukrainian language used by the defendants in their own communications. The jury was told it was not their responsibility to determine who El Money is or what their motivation may have been. What mattered was the evidence connecting the defendants to the fires and to a clear financial arrangement.CCTV footage was played in court showing Lavrynovych purchasing white spirit at a B&Q store in south London on 6 May 2025. Prosecutors described white spirit as an accelerant. Phone data placed Lavrynovych in the area where Starmer’s car was parked in the early hours of May 7, a full 24 hours before the car was set alight. Atkinson told the jury this was a reconnaissance trip to prepare for the attack the following night. An image of the car timed at 03:08 BST was said to have been found on Lavrynovych’s phone from that visit.The prosecution also said fragments of evidence on Lavrynovych’s phone suggested he may have sent a targeting pack to others involved in the operation detailing where to go and what to do along with a promise of payment in cryptocurrency.The case presents a picture that goes beyond three opportunistic acts of vandalism. It describes a coordinated operation directed from outside the group of defendants with payment arranged in advance and targets identified months before the fires were lit. Lavrynovych is said to have sent the location and an image of Starmer’s car to an Instagram user as far back as October 2024, more than six months before the vehicle was set alight.
