Two men have been convicted of conspiracy to commit arson over a series of fires at properties linked to the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. The verdicts were returned at the Central Criminal Court, where the case had been heard, bringing a key stage of the high-profile prosecution to a close. The convictions confirm that the fires were the result of a deliberate plot rather than isolated incidents.
One of the two men convicted of the conspiracy was also found guilty of a further arson offence, as he was the person who actually set light to the properties. A third man who stood trial alongside them was acquitted, clearing him of involvement. The mixed outcome leaves two defendants facing the consequences of serious arson convictions while the third walks free.
The case centred on fires at properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer, with the three defendants all linked to Ukraine. The court heard that the fires were not very extensive in the end, but they were treated as serious arsons given the circumstances. Crucially, family members were still living at the properties at the time, raising the potential danger posed by the attacks.
According to the evidence, the main defendant, named in court as Roman Lavrynovych, was directed online by a Russian speaker who used the alias EL. This handler asked him to carry out the arsons, supplied the addresses of the targets, told him what he wanted set alight and offered him money in return for doing so. That account placed the plot in the context of an instruction received remotely rather than a locally hatched scheme.
There was no information presented during the trial about who the Russian speaker actually was, and the jury was told that this question was not part of their considerations. The focus of their deliberations remained on the actions of the defendants themselves and whether they had agreed to and carried out the arson, rather than on the identity or motives of the person who had allegedly directed them.
The outcome draws fresh attention to the security around properties tied to the Prime Minister and to how the men came to be involved. Beyond the courtroom verdicts, broadcasters indicated that further reporting would examine the background to the case in more detail, including the route by which the defendants were drawn into the plot and the unresolved questions about who was ultimately behind it.