Three men on trial for Starmer-linked arson attacks

Three men went on trial at London's Old Bailey on Wednesday accused of carrying out arson attacks on a car and two properties linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in north London last spring, under instructions from a Russian-speaking Telegram contact known as El Money who promised payment in cryptocurrency.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told jurors the fires, set over five days in May last year, were no coincidence but targeted acts that endangered lives. The first incident occurred in the early hours of May 8, when a Toyota Rav4 previously owned by Starmer was set alight on Countess Road in Kentish Town. Three nights later, on May 11, a fire broke out at the front door of a house on nearby Ellington Street in Islington, managed by a company in which Starmer had served as a director and shareholder. Then, in the early hours of May 12, another blaze was started at the front door of a house on Countess Road that Starmer still owned and which was occupied by his sister-in-law.

Atkinson said Roman Lavrynovych, 22, of Lewisham in southeast London, used white spirit or a similar accelerant to start the house fires late at night while occupants slept inside. "The prosecution's...