Third person charged over arson attacks at properties linked to Keir Starmer
21 May 2025, 08:03 | Updated: 21 May 2025, 08:38
A third person has been charged in connection with the string of arson attacks linked to Sir Keir Starmer's properties, the Metropolitan Police have said.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The Met police confirmed that "a third man has been charged as part of an investigation into a series of fires in north London."
Petro Pochynok, 34, has been charged has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The Ukrainian man was charged today, after another Ukrainian man and a Romanian man were already charged over their involvement in the alleged arson attacks.
Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, a Romanian national, and Roman Lavrynovych, 21, a Ukrainian national, had previously been charged in the case.
Pochynok is accused of "conspiring together" with the two other men and "others unknown" to commit arson.
He is also charged with:
- intending to damage the property.
- intending to endanger the life or another or being reckless as to whether the life of another would thereby be endangered.
All the men have connections with a high-profile public figure, according to the Met police, and so the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation into the fires.
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons the arson attacks were "an attack on all of us, on democracy and the values that we stand for".
Counter-terrorism officers worked "at pace" to establish the cause of the fires and "any potential motivation", Scotland Yard said.
The fires took place at properties and a car linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The car, which Starmer had sold the to a neighbour last year, was set on fire on Monday last week, before a fire was set to a building the Prime Minister is understood to have lived in the 1990s.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Pochynok was arrested on Monday, 19 May, in the Chelsea area of London, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The Ukrainian is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 21 May.
Lavrynovych and Carpiuc have both appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and have been remanded in custody.
