Three fires in five days, all targeting the same man's property
In the span of five days last May, three fires consumed properties tied to British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer across north London — a pattern prosecutors now argue was no accident, but a coordinated act of arson orchestrated by a Russian-speaking figure known only as 'El Money.' Three Ukrainian men living in London stand accused of carrying out the attacks for cryptocurrency payment, recruited through Telegram in what the Crown describes as a deliberate, externally directed campaign against the home of a sitting head of government. The case sits at the uneasy intersection of criminal conspiracy and geopolitical shadow — a reminder that the vulnerabilities of democratic leadership are not always met with ballots or protests, but sometimes with fire.
- Three fires in five nights, each one targeting a different property linked to the UK's Prime Minister, form a pattern prosecutors say is too precise to be coincidence.
- A shadowy Russian-speaking figure called 'El Money' allegedly recruited Ukrainian nationals via Telegram, offering cryptocurrency payments to execute the attacks — raising urgent questions about foreign interference in British political life.
- CCTV footage, phone records, and a pre-dawn reconnaissance trip to north London place one defendant steps away from the first fire hours before it was set, with an image of Starmer's former car timestamped at 3:08 a.m. found on his phone.
- Prosecutors are carefully narrowing the jury's task — not to unmask the organizer or prove political motive, but to establish whether the three men in the dock lit the fires they are accused of lighting.
- All three defendants deny the charges, and the trial continues, leaving unresolved the deeper question of who directed the operation and why.
Three fires burned through north London over five days last May, each one touching something connected to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. A car he once owned was set alight on May 8th near his former Kentish Town street. Three days later, flames broke out at flats he still owned in Islington. The following night, fire appeared at the entrance of his former home, then rented to tenants. Prosecutors now argue these were no accidents.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, Petro Pochynok, 35, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27 — all London residents, all Ukrainian nationals — are charged with conspiring to damage property by fire between April and May 2025. Lavrynovych faces the gravest counts, including endangering life. All three deny the charges.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the jury that the men were recruited and paid by a Russian-speaking contact known only as 'El Money,' who communicated with them via Telegram while they otherwise spoke Ukrainian among themselves — a detail Atkinson used to suggest an external hand directing the operation. Payment was promised in cryptocurrency.
The evidence trail is methodical. Days before the first fire, Lavrynovych purchased white spirit — an accelerant — at a B&Q in south London. In the early hours of May 7th, phone data and bus CCTV tracked him traveling to the exact north London street where Starmer's former Toyota was parked. A photograph of the car, timestamped at 3:08 a.m., was later found on his phone. Prosecutors call it a reconnaissance run.
Messages recovered from the defendants reference a 'job' targeting Starmer's former vehicle, and phone evidence suggests a 'targeting pack' — location details, instructions, and a payment promise — may have been sent to coordinate the attacks. The three properties were not chosen at random: one was a car Starmer had owned, another a house connected to a company he once directed, and the third a property still in his name, occupied by his sister-in-law.
Atkinson told jurors they need not determine who 'El Money' is or what motivated him — that question, he said, lies beyond their task. What the jury must decide is whether the three men before them carried out the acts the evidence describes. The trial continues.
Three fires burned through north London in the span of five days last May, each one consuming property connected to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. A car he once owned went up in flames on May 8th on a street where he used to live in Kentish Town. Three days later, a fire broke out at flats he still owned in nearby Islington. The following night, flames appeared at the entrance of his former Kentish Town home, which had been rented to tenants. Now, in a London courtroom, prosecutors are arguing these were no accidents—that three Ukrainian men deliberately set each fire as part of a coordinated scheme, recruited and paid by a Russian-speaking operative they knew only as 'El Money'.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, Petro Pochynok, 35, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, all live in London and all deny the charges. They are accused of conspiring together to damage property by fire between April 1st and May 13th, 2025. Lavrynovych faces the most serious allegations: he is charged with damaging property by fire with intent to endanger life on May 11th and 12th, with alternative counts of recklessness. The prosecutor, Duncan Atkinson KC, laid out the case methodically. Three fires in the same residential area within five days would be unusual on its own, he told the jury. But three fires all targeting the same person's property? That moves beyond coincidence into something deliberate.
The evidence, as Atkinson presented it, traces a careful chain. Phone messages recovered from the defendants show communication before and during the period of the fires. Lavrynovych was offered payment by 'El Money' through the Telegram messaging app to set the fires. Carpiuc also communicated with the same contact. Notably, 'El Money' wrote in Russian, while the defendants otherwise communicated in Ukrainian—a detail Atkinson highlighted to suggest an external organizer. The prosecutor told jurors they need not determine who 'El Money' actually is or what motivated him. That question, he said, falls outside their considerations. What matters is whether the three men in the dock carried out the acts they are accused of.
The prosecution's timeline builds methodically. On May 6th, 2025, Lavrynovych was captured on CCTV inside a B&Q store in south London purchasing white spirit, which Atkinson described as an accelerant. The next morning, in the early hours of May 7th, phone data and bus CCTV show Lavrynovych traveling from his home to north London and back—to the exact area where Starmer's former Toyota was parked. An image of the car, timestamped at 3:08 in the morning, was found on his phone. Atkinson characterized this as a reconnaissance trip, a final check before the vehicle was set alight the following night.
The connection between the defendants and their target runs deeper still. Messages from May 2025 show Lavrynovych discussing a 'job' with El Money and Carpiuc—language Atkinson said was an obvious reference to the plan targeting Starmer's former car. That car had already been identified in October 2024, when Lavrynovych sent its location and a photograph to an Instagram user. Phone evidence suggests Lavrynovych may have sent what prosecutors call a 'targeting pack'—instructions on where to go and what to do, bundled with a promise of payment in cryptocurrency. The three properties themselves were carefully chosen. One was a car Starmer had owned. Another was a house managed by a company of which Starmer had once been a director and shareholder. The third was a property he still owned, occupied by his sister-in-law.
Atkinson emphasized to the jury that the defendants' motivation need not be political or ideological. They may not have even known, or cared, that the properties belonged to the Prime Minister. What matters, he argued, is that they were paid to target specific locations, and the evidence shows they did. The jury will have to weigh phone records, CCTV footage, purchase receipts, and the pattern of three fires against three properties—all connected to one man—over five nights in May. The defendants deny all charges. The trial continues.
Citações Notáveis
Three fires in the same area within five days would be pretty unusual, but fires all involving property linked to the same person were beyond a coincidence.— Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC
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.— Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter whether the defendants knew they were targeting the Prime Minister's property?
Because the law cares about intent and knowledge differently depending on the charge. If they were simply paid to burn buildings without knowing whose they were, that's still arson. But it changes the nature of the threat—whether this was a targeted political attack or just hired work.
The prosecutor keeps saying jurors don't need to know who 'El Money' is. Doesn't that seem like the most important question?
It does on the surface. But legally, the jury's job is narrower. They need to decide if these three men did what they're accused of. Who hired them and why is a separate question—one that might involve national security or ongoing investigations the court can't touch.
The timing is striking—three fires in five days. Could that be coincidence?
The prosecutor's argument is that it couldn't be. Three separate fires at three separate properties, all connected to one person, all within a week? The odds of that happening by accident are vanishingly small. That pattern itself becomes evidence.
What does the reconnaissance trip tell us?
It suggests planning and coordination. If Lavrynovych traveled to the location at 3 a.m., photographed the car, then returned home—that's not someone acting on impulse. That's someone preparing for a job, checking the target, confirming the location before execution.
Why use cryptocurrency for payment?
It's harder to trace than bank transfers. Cryptocurrency leaves a digital record, but it's pseudonymous and moves across borders easily. If you're trying to obscure who's paying whom and why, it's a logical choice.
The fact that 'El Money' spoke Russian while the defendants spoke Ukrainian—what does that suggest?
It suggests someone from outside their circle, possibly from a different country or background, coordinating the operation. It's a detail that points toward external direction rather than these three men acting independently.