Two Ukrainian-born men jailed over arson attacks on property linked to UK PM Starmer
Arson Attacks and Sentencing Details
By Michael Holden
LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Two men born in Ukraine were jailed on Friday over a series of arson attacks on property linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year on behalf of an unidentified person who contacted them online.
The Arson Attacks
Over five days last May, police were called to fires at a house in north London connected to Starmer, another at a property nearby where he previously lived and where his sister-in-law still resided, and to a blaze involving a Toyota car that also used to belong to the British leader.
Convictions and Court Proceedings
Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, was found guilty at London's Old Bailey Court on Monday of two counts of committing arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit arson, along with Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, who was born in Ukraine.
Payment and Online Contact
Prosecutors said Lavrynovych had been offered payment to carry out arson by an account on Telegram, which used the name "EL Money".
Possible Russian Connection
RUSSIAN LINK?
EL Money contacted him in both Russian and Ukrainian, and prosecutors did not state who or what entity was believed to be behind the account. Lavrynovych said he did not know who he was targeting.
The BBC has reported that Russian operatives were behind the attacks, although British police said there was no specific evidence to link them to Russia. The Russian embassy in London has rejected accusations of any Russian involvement, saying Moscow posed no threat to Britain's security.
Sentencing Remarks
Jailing Lavrynovych for seven years, Judge Neil Garnham said he was a "useful idiot", a fool who was "easily bought" and could be manipulated by EL Money.
He had "accepted the job as you had accepted other grubby little tasks", Garnham told Lavrynovych, calling him a man of "significantly low level intellectual functioning".
Defendant's Motivation
During the trial, Lavrynovych denied knowing who Starmer was, saying he took the job because he needed money to help his father who was suffering from health issues.
Evidence Presented in Court
The court was shown messages in which EL Money told Lavrynovych he needed to flee Britain after carrying out the attacks on the home "of a very high-ranking individual in Britain".
"You were essentially acting as a pawn for some unknown cause and putting the lives of people asleep in their beds at risk as a result," Garnham said.
The family of Starmer's sister-in-law were in bed when the first fire was started at their home and one of the occupants had described how the house was becoming full of smoke and she was struggling to breathe, the judge said.
"Her nine-year-old daughter was woken by the smoke and was terrified," he added.
He jailed Carpiuc for two years, saying he was not directly involved in setting fire to either of the two houses.
Reporting Credits
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Sarah Young and Gareth Jones)
