Judith Alexander was inside her Kentish Town home with her partner and daughter when she noticed smoke and an orange glow at the front door. “I did not see anyone on the street,” she later told the court, “but when I looked down I saw smoke and an orange glow where the front door was.” The property was owned by her brother-in-law, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and the fire on 12 May 2025 was the third arson attack in five days linked to the PM.
On Monday, two men were found guilty over the attacks. Roman Lavrynovych, 22, a Ukrainian national, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Ukrainian-born Romanian national, were convicted by an Old Bailey jury of conspiracy to commit arson on property and a car connected to Sir Keir. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was acquitted.
“Two men convicted over arson attacks on car and homes linked to PM Keir Starmer, ordered by Russian-speaking handler.”
Lavrynovych was also found guilty of damaging two properties by fire being reckless as to whether life was endangered, relating to the 11 and 12 May blazes. He was acquitted of arson with intent to endanger life. The jury deliberated for seven hours and 26 minutes before reaching unanimous verdicts. Mr Justice Garnham remanded both guilty men into custody to be sentenced on Friday.
The attacks began on 8 May when a car previously owned by Starmer was set alight on a street in Kentish Town, north London. Three days later, a fire was discovered at flats linked to the prime minister in nearby Islington. Then on 12 May, the front door of Starmer’s former home—rented to his sister-in-law—was set ablaze.
The prosecution said Lavrynovych was recruited online by a Russian-speaking Telegram user using the alias “El Money”, who promised him payment. Messages showed “El Money” later telling Lavrynovych: “Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I’ll send you money, you need to leave the city.” Lavrynovych was offered £3,000 in cryptocurrency to set the fires, film them, and get them on the news.
Lavrynovych was arrested at his home in Sydenham, south-east London, on 13 May. Carpiuc was arrested four days later at Luton airport while waiting to board a flight to Romania. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counter-terrorism policing London, said there was “no ideological motivation” for the defendants and “no evidence to suggest that they knew who they were targeting”. She added: “However, clearly the intention from the online tasker was to create fear, both for the victim and the prime minister, and cause uncertainty, unrest, for the UK.”
Chief prosecutor Frank Ferguson said after the verdicts: “These were deliberate and dangerous acts of arson carried out against properties and a vehicle connected to the prime minister.” The case has highlighted the reach of anonymous online handlers willing to orchestrate attacks for financial gain.