Ukrainian man tells court Russian speaker forced him to arson Sir Keir Starmer properties

A Ukrainian man accused of arson attacks on properties linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told London's Old Bailey he was forced to start the fires and did not mean to endanger lives.

Roman Lavrynovych, 22, faces charges alongside Petro Pochynok, 35, another Ukrainian national, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Ukrainian-born Romanian national, for targeting two properties and a car connected to Starmer.

Lavrynovych testified that he believed no one was at the properties. He said a Russian speaker who recruited him online compelled him to commit the arsons.

He told the court he acted after threats from someone called El Money, and because he needed money for his father's medical treatment in Ukraine. "I was forced to do that," Lavrynovych said.

All three men, who live in London, are charged with conspiring, along with others, to damage property by fire from April 1 to May 13, 2025.

Lavrynovych, from Lewisham in southeast London, also faces charges of damaging property by fire with intent to endanger life on May 11 and 12, 2025, at two north London sites tied to Starmer.

He said he first hoped to raise the money legitimately but agreed to El Money's job when that failed. Lavrynovych did not proceed on the first attempt after realizing he might face problems.

"His mood changed after I refused to do that job. He said he knew where I lived and who with and that I'd better do it," Lavrynovych told the court.

The defendant said he then feared for his life, his grandmother's, and her elderly female friend's, as they lived together. "He told me he was very high-up. Perhaps linked to politics or so," Lavrynovych said of El Money.

Multiple people used the El Money account, Lavrynovych testified Monday, including at least one woman and several men. The woman messaged him, "My husband will go and check it," after telling him to torch a Toyota RAV4.

El Money criticized the car arson because a video from another defendant lasted just two seconds and failed to show the car burning, and because it drew no news coverage.

He next ordered Lavrynovych to set fire to a building on nearby Ellington Street, managed by a company where Starmer was once a director and shareholder. "He told me it'd look like an office," Lavrynovych said. "He gave me specific time when there were no people inside."

Lavrynovych believes more than one man was involved, as he got messages in both Russian and Ukrainian.

On May 8, 2025, a Toyota once owned by Starmer burned on a Kentish Town street where he used to live. Three days later, fire broke out at flats in nearby Islington connected to Starmer.

On May 12, flames appeared at the front entrance of Starmer's Kentish Town house, rented to his sister-in-law, who was home with her family. Jurors heard that El Money then messaged Lavrynovych: "Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I'll send you money, you need to leave the city."