Three men were offered payment to set fire to properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer by a Russian-speaking contact dubbed “El Money”, a court has heard.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, Petro Pochynok, 35, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, are charged with conspiracy to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13 last year.
Lavrynovych, of Lewisham, south-east London, is further charged with damaging two properties by fire with intent to endanger life on May 11 and 12, 2025.
Lavrynovych and Pochynok are both Ukrainian citizens, while Ukrainian-born Carpiuc is a Romanian citizen.
Opening the trial at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Duncan Atkinson KC said: “Three fires within five days would be pretty unusual. However, three fires all involving property linked to the same person were beyond a coincidence.”
Court sketches of Stanislav Carpiuc (left), Roman Lavrynovych (centre) and Petro Pochynok on previous appearances. Credit: Elizabeth Cook/PA Images
On May 8, 2025, a Toyota RAV4 was discovered on fire in Kentish Town. The car was later discovered to have been previously owned by the prime minister.
Three days later, on May 11, a fire was allegedly started at the front door of a house converted into flats in Kentish Town in north London.
The fire is alleged to have been started deliberately with the use of a white spirit being poured over the front door. The house was managed by a company of which the prime minister had once been director and shareholder.
The following day, on May 12, there was another fire at the Kentish Town home where the prime minister had lived before he moved into Downing Street after being elected.
The fire had again allegedly been set deliberately at the front door of the property using a white spirit.
Sir Keir Starmer’s house in Kentish Town, north London in May 2025. Credit: PA Images
“The evidence demonstrated that there was, here, no coincidence,” Mr Atkinson said in his opening remarks.
“Rather, the vehicle and the two 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 prosecution allege that Lavrynovych had been offered payment to set the fires by a contact using the pseudonym ‘El Money’, who he was communicating with via Telegram.
They had communicated in Russian, despite Lavrynovych usually communicating using Ukrainian.
Carpiuc had also communicated with Lavrynovych regarding his payment. It is alleged that Pochynok was also recruited to help set the fires.
Mr Atkinson said Lavrynovych’s phone contained location data placing it at the location of all three fires at the time they were set, images and videos of all three locations before fires were set, as well as images of all three fires, and a video showing the fire damage at the second property the next day.
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“In each case Lavrynovych set a fire at the front door of the house using white spirit or something similar,” Mr Atkinson told jurors.
“The fires were set in the dead of night, when the occupants of the addresses would inevitably have been asleep.
“The prosecution’s case is that when he did so he must have intended to endanger – to risk – the lives of the people living inside those houses. Why else would you set fire to the front door, blocking the residents’ escape?”
Lavrynovych, Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, and Pochynok, of Islington, north London, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Lavrynovych denied two alternative charges of damaging property by fire “being reckless as to whether life is endangered” relating to the same two incidents.
The trial continues.
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