Two men have been found guilty of carrying out a string of arson attacks on a car and properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer.
Ukrainians Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, acted on the orders of a Russian-speaking Telegram contact called “El Money”, the Old Bailey heard.
A Toyota RAV4, which once belonged to the prime minister, was set alight out in Kentish Town, north London, in the early hours of 8 May last year.
On 11 May, a fire was started at the door of an Islington flat, where Sir Keir had previously lived, while his constituency home was attacked on 12 May 2025.
The prime minister’s sister-in-law, Judith Alexander, who moved in after Sir Keir entered Downing Street, told how she heard bangs and saw smoke as her partner and daughter slept.
Prosecutors said the arson attacks were “planned and directed” by their contact known only as “El Money”, who promised to pay Lavrynovych £3,000 in cryptocurrency.
Construction worker Lavrynovych claimed he had been threatened by the shadowy figure, who demanded the fires were filmed and on the news.
Carpiuc, who had a short-lived modelling career, said he had been drinking in a pub in Notting Hill at the time of the attacks.
Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, Lavrynovych, from Sydenham, south east London, had denied conspiracy to damage property.
Lavrynovych also denied damaging two properties by fire with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
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(c) Sky News 2026: Two found guilty over arson attacks on car and homes linked to Keir Starmer on orders