London — A British court was told on Wednesday how three men from Ukraine and Romania were offered online payments by a Russian-speaking contact to set fire to two houses and a car linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told the court that the men – Ukrainian Roman Lavrinovich, 22, Petro Pochinok, 35, and Romanian Stanislav Karpiuc – were involved in setting the fire between May 8 and 12 in 2025.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit arson, but Atkinson said Lavrinovic was identified by police as the person behind all the fires. He is also charged with causing damage to two properties by arson with intent to endanger life or with reckless disregard as to whether life was in danger.
The men deny the allegations against them. The court was not told how much money was offered or whether anyone was injured in the fire at the house.
Atkinson said, “It would be quite unusual to have three fires in the same area within five days. However, three fires involving property involving the same person was beyond a coincidence.”
Atkinson said a Toyota car was deliberately set on fire in the Kentish Town area of ​​north London on the morning of May 8, followed by a house on May 11 and another house on May 12.
The fire at the property was started with similar materials and “was set in the dark of night, when the occupants of the address would inevitably be sleeping,” arguing that the intention of those who started the fire may have been to endanger the lives of those inside.
“Why else would you set fire to the front door, preventing the residents’ escape?” Atkinson asked.
The car had once belonged to Starmer, he said, the first house on Ellington Road was managed by a company where the Prime Minister was once a director and shareholder, and the second house on Countess Road was occupied by his sister-in-law and is still owned by Starmer.
Atkinson told the court that the attacks on cars and homes were “planned and directed, with those involved promised payment for their participation.” Atkinson said Lavrinovic was offered payment to open fire on the messaging app Telegram by a contact named El Money.
Atkinson told the jury that it did not need to decide what motivated the defendants to carry out the alleged attacks and that it “does not matter whether they knew that the property they were targeting was linked to the Prime Minister or whether that was part of their motivation.”
The court heard how more than 320 messages between Lavrinovic and El Mani dating back to September 2024 were recovered, but Atkinson told the jury he was not concerned about who El Mani was and why he decided to recruit people for the attacks.
