Three males ’employed by thriller Russian El Money to set hearth to Keir Starmer’s property’

A Toyota Rav4 that had once belonged to Keir Starmer was set on fire while a home he also owns on the same street was later targeted in the alleged arson attacks

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A series of arson attacks on property linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer were masterminded by a shadowy Russian-speaking figure known only as “El Money”, a court has heard.

Roman Lavrynovych, 22, is accused of torching a Toyota Rav4 in Kentish Town on May 8 last year before setting fire to the front doors of two homes nearby in the following days, the Old Bailey was told. Co-defendant Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, is accused of recruiting Ukrainian national Lavrynovych and his Petro Pochynok, 35, to help carry out the plan.

Opening the case on Wednesday, Duncan Atkinson KC told the jury that all of the fires were linked and they endangered the lives of those asleep in the properties targeted.

He said: “Three fires in the same area within five days would be pretty unusual. However, three fires all involving property linked to the same person were beyond a coincidence.”

Mr Atkinson said the Rav4 had once belonged to the PM while he still owned a house on the same street, Countess Road, that was later targeted.

The final alleged arson attack happened at a house managed by a company Sir Keir had once been a director of, the court heard.

Mr Atkinson told the jury: “The evidence demonstrated that there was here no coincidence. Rather, the vehicle and 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.”

Mr Atkinson said Lavrynovych had allegedly been offered cash to set the fires by a contact using the name or pseudonym “El Money”.

He added: “Police recovered contact on the Telegram messaging app between Mr Lavrynovych and ‘EL Money’, which showed that Mr Lavrynovych had been recruited, instructed and promised with payment for the fires that he was told to start.

“Police also recovered contact on the Telegram messaging app between Carpiuc and ‘EL Money’. ‘El Money’ communicated in Russian, in contrast to the Ukrainian otherwise used by the defendants. Carpiuc also communicated with Mr Lavrynovych about his payment.”

The defendants have denied conspiracy to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13 last year. Lavrynovych is also charged with damaging two properties by fire with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to life was endangered on May 11 and 12 last year.

The first fire was in the early hours of May 8, when the Toyota Rav4 was set alight on Countess Road in Kentish town, the court heard. Three nights later a fire was allegedly started at the front door of a house converted into flats in Islington, north London. The following day, there was a fire at the Kentish Town home on Countess Road where Sir Keir lived before he became Prime Minister and moved into Downing Street.

Mr Atkinson said in each case Lavrynovych started a fire at the front door of the house using white spirit or something similar.

He said: “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?”

Jurors were told they did not need to know who “El Money” was or what motivated the defendants to target properties linked to the PM.

“It does not matter whether they knew that the property they were targeting was connected to the Prime Minister or whether that formed part of their motivation,” said Mr Atkinson.

The prosecutor took the jury through some of 320 messages shared between Lavrynovych and “El Money” dating back seven months before the first arson incident. He said the defendant’s legal team might argue that he was threatened with violence if he did not carry out the attacks.

Mr Atkinson told the jury: “It may be suggested on behalf of Mr Lavrynovych that he was pressured into setting the fires by a shadowy figure who threatened him and his family if he did not comply. “There is no such messaging between any third party and Mr Lavrynovych.”

He said the messages showed that the motivation “was not fear, but financial reward”.

Lavrynovych, of Lewisham, south-east London, Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, and Pochynok, of Islington, north London, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. The trial before Mr Justice Garnham is expected to continue until the end of May.