Two men found guilty of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on property connected to Keir Starmer appear to have operated under the instruction of an online handler with links to Russia.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, from Romania, were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Monday. Another Ukrainian man, Petro Pochynok, 35, was cleared of the same charge.
Lavrynovych was also convicted of damaging two properties by fire, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, on 11 and 12 May last year. He was acquitted of two counts of committing arson with intent to risk life.
During a months-long trial, the jury heard that the three men had been offered payment to set fire to a car and two houses linked to Starmer by a mysterious Russian-speaking figure named El Money, or “Hroshi” in Ukrainian.
Reports in the Financial Times and BBC on Monday suggested that the attacks had been coordinated through Telegram messages from an account with links to a network based in Russia. The BBC reported that a 23-year-old Russian diplomat, Evgeny Lyukshin, had masterminded the attacks.
But others cautioned that no such charges had been brought. Prosecutors in the case did not disclose information about the identity of Lavrynovych’s handler, other than to reveal that they had used the “El Money” handle on Telegram and communicated in Russian and Ukrainian.
Investigators indicated that establishing clearcut connection to Moscow in such cases was complex, which was why Lavrynovych was indicted with arson and not national security offences.
Commander Helen Flanagan, the 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, and that that was the prime minister or properties linked to the prime minister”.
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.”
Mr Justice Garnham remanded the defendants into custody, to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday. Jurors had deliberated for seven hours and 26 minutes before reaching their unanimous verdicts.
The police recovered more than 320 messages between El Money and Lavrynovych on Telegram, dating back to September 2024. The anonymous contact, who communicated in Russian, offered Lavrynovych £3,000 in cryptocurrency if he set the fires, filmed them, and got them on the news.
Pochynok, who was asked by his friend Carpiuc to assist Lavrynovych with some suitcases, told the court he had been “deceived” by both men and had no idea about Lavyronvych’s plans to set fire to a car on 8 May.
Starmer’s sister-in-law, Judith Alexander, was living with her partner and daughter in the prime minister’s former home in Kentish Town when the front door was set on fire on 12 May 2025.
“I did not see anyone on the street,” Alexander told the court in April, “but when I looked down I saw smoke and an orange glow where the front door was.”
After the arson attacks, El Money told Lavrynovych to leave the UK. “Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain,” El Money wrote on Telegram. “I’ll send you money, you need to leave the city.”
Lavyronvych was arrested at his home in Sydenham, south-east London, on 13 May 2025. Carpiuc was arrested on 17 May at Luton airport, while waiting to board a flight to Romania.
During the trial, all three men denied holding any grudges against the prime minister. In his evidence, Pochmynok described Starmer as a “friend of Ukraine”.
After the verdicts, the chief prosecutor, Frank Ferguson, said: “These were deliberate and dangerous acts of arson carried out against properties and a vehicle linked to the prime minister, and they posed a serious risk to life.
“Such offences go beyond damage to property – they are intended to intimidate and undermine public confidence, and that will not be tolerated.”
In May, during prime minister’s questions, Starmer described the fires as “an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for”.
A government spokesperson said: “This was an abhorrent attack and those responsible have now been brought to justice for their acts. We thank our partners in law enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing these criminals to justice.”
