Man charged over arson attacks on Keir Starmer-linked properties and car

Met counter-terrorism police said a 21-year-old man has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life

A man has been charged over a series of suspected arson attacks on two homes and a vehicle linked to Keir Starmer, police have said. Police said 21-year-old Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian national, was charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command took over an investigation following a spate of fires in north London. Police previously said that a 21-year-old man had been arrested in the early hours of 13 May in Sydenham, south London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life. Counter-terrorism detectives investigated three incidents. One was a fire at the prime minister’s family home in north-west London, which he now rents out, which was reported to police by firefighters in the early hours of Monday morning. Police said damage was caused to the property’s entrance and nobody was hurt. Counter-terrorism officers also investigated two other suspected arson attacks. They were a vehicle fire in north London last Thursday and a fire “at the entrance of a property” in north London on Sunday. The Met said all three fires were being treated as suspicious. Lavrynovych is due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on 16 May.