Keir Starmer arson plotters recruited by Russia jailed for nine years

Two ‘useful idiots’ have been jailed for a series of arson attacks targeting Sir Keir Starmer at the behest of a shadowy Russian-speaking figure.

Roman Lavrynovych, 22, from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, from Romania, were jailed for conspiring to carry out arson attacks.

A third man, Petro Pochynok, 35, who is a Ukrainian citizen, was cleared of the same charge.

Lavrynovych was also convicted of damaging two properties by fire, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, in May last year.

Lavrynovych was jailed for seven years and Carpiuc will spend two years behind bars.

A car and two houses linked to the Prime Minister were set on fire in north London by Lavrynovych.

Justice Garnham called Lavrynovych an ‘idiot’ and a ‘fool’ used by ‘El Money’, or ‘Hroshi’ in Ukrainian, who directed the attacks.

El Money recruited Lavrynovych on the privacy-first communication app, Telegram, offering £3,000 in cryptocurrency to set fire to a car and two houses and get the incident on the news

The account sent instructions that included the locations of the targets and how to mix flammable liquids bought from a hardware store.

Carpiuc encouraged his friend Lavrynovych and was going to help him convert the crypto, a near-untraceable virtual currency, into cash.

Then, early on May 12, a townhouse where the prime minister had lived before moving to Downing Street had its door set alight.

Sir Keir still owns the house in Kentish Town, now occupied by his sister-in-law.

While no one was hurt, the court heard that the fires posed a ‘serious risk to life’.

Hours after the fire, El Money 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.

‘If the police detain you, secretly write the word “geranium” and I’ll send a lawyer to you, I’ll give you money for a week and a new phone. We won’t be in touch for a week

Lavrynovych was arrested early the next morning. He was never paid.

The Old Bailey heard that El Money had previously hired Lavrynovych to spray paint anti-Muslim graffiti at mosques in London and to put up posters in England advertising a far-right group, Direct Action UK.

Who El Money is remains uncertain, though their account has been linked to a Russian online sabotage network, which often recruits Ukrainians.

Lavrynovych believes it is operated by multiple people who knew ‘so much’ about him, including where his grandmother lives.

His lawyer, James Scobie, told the court over the weeks-long trial that Sir Keir was targeted for his support for Ukraine amid the Russian war.

Counter-terrorism police said today after the sentencing that they do not consider El Money to be a ‘state threat’.

Justice Garnham told Lavrynovych: ‘You agreed to carry out this mindless piece of arson for money.

‘You were not a man of great principle and you were easily bought.’

He added: ‘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.

‘In my view, each of the arsons of property was more serious than the burning of a car.

‘In each case, you were exposing the people likely to be [in bed] in those properties to a risk of serious physical or psychological harm.’

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