A Ukrainian national living in London has been charged with arson with intent to endanger life following a series of fires at properties and a vehicle linked to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Twenty-one-year-old Roman Lavrynovych allegedly set a Toyota RAV4 car alight on May 8, before starting fires at a residential property on May 11, then to the entrance of a property converted to apartments on May 12. Nobody was hurt in the incidents.
The counter-terror wing of the London Metropolitan Police is investigating the fires because of links between the properties and Starmer. In a statement on Thursday, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, Bethan David, said: “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”
Lavrynovych was arrested on May 13 and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday where – assisted by an interpreter – he confirmed his personal details. A trial preparation hearing has been set for June 6.
It is understood that one of the affected properties was home to Starmer and his family before he became prime minister and has since been rented to his sister-in-law. According to The Guardian, the other affected property was home to Starmer in the 1990s, while the car is believed to have been sold by Starmer to a neighbor in 2024.
The fires have prompted further scrutiny of the security of UK politicians, along with well wishes across party lines and condemnation of the attacks. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament on Wednesday, Starmer described the incidents as “an attack on all of us, an attack on democracy.”
The motives for the attacks are not yet clear, including whether radical campaign groups, activists, or more spurious influencing forces might have been involved. UK newspaper The Telegraph wrote on May 13 that terror police were investigating the possibility of hostile state actions being behind the attack.