Two citizens of Ukraine and Romania found guilty of arson of British Prime Minister Keir Starmerʼs property

22-year-old Ukrainian Roman Lavrynovych and 27-year-old Romanian citizen born in Ukraine Stanislav Karpiuc were found guilty of arson of property associated with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Reuters writes about this.

The charges relate to three incidents that took place over four days in May 2025. The youths then set fire to a car in Kentish Town, north London, Starmerʼs private home on the same street and another house where Starmer lived before becoming prime minister. No one was injured in the incidents.

A London court today found Lavrynovych and Karpiuk guilty of conspiracy to commit arson likely to endanger life. They will be sentenced on Friday, June 19. Another Ukrainian, 35-year-old Petro Pochynk, was acquitted.

According to the investigation, the Ukrainian was offered payment for the arson through a Telegram account under the nickname EL Money. The correspondence was conducted in both Russian and Ukrainian.

Prosecutors did not say who was behind the account, but Helen Flanagan, head of the Metropolitan Policeʼs counter-terrorism unit, said there was no evidence that the attacks were linked to Russia.

Lavrynovitch told the court that he believed EL Money was more than one person. He said he did not know who Keir Starmer was when he agreed to commit the arson for money. He said he needed the money to help his sick father.

The court heard messages in which EL Money urged Lavrynovych to flee Britain after committing the arson attacks. Another message suggests that the two had agreed that if Lavrynovych was detained by the police, he would send EL Money a message with the code word "geranium" and the latter would send him a lawyer to help.

When asked in court whether he used a code word, the Ukrainian replied: "No, I didnʼt try. I didnʼt have time for it."

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