A fourth man has been arrested for the arsons related to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer‘s property.
The 48-year-old was arrested at Stansted airport today, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.
He was initially stopped by officers under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, 2000, before being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The arrest is connected to an investigation into a series of fires and suspected arson attacks across North London last month. They included: vehicle fire in NW5 on Thursday, 8 May; a fire at the entrance of a property in N7 on Sunday, 11 May; and a fire at a residential address in NW5 in the early hours of Monday, 12 May.
The man has now been taken to a London police station, where he currently remains in police custody.
The Crown Prosecution Service previously authorised charged against three other men:
- Roman Lavrynovych, 21, of Sydenham, a Ukrainian national was charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.
- Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, of Romford, a Romanian national, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
- Petro Pochynok, 34, of north London, a Ukrainian national was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.
The three men have been remanded in custody to next appear at the Old Bailey on Friday, 6 June.
The investigation is being led by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command due to the fires all having connections to a high-profile public figure. Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should call police on 101 quoting CAD 441/12 May. Enquiries remain ongoing.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named but witnessed the car fire, said: “Initially the police did not think it was a criminal case. It was a hybrid car so they just assumed it was some sort of electrical fault that sparked it.
“It was in the middle of the night, it woke us up, it was scary.”
Another neighbour told BBC News: “I heard people screaming ‘fire, fire!’ I looked out and you could see it lighting up the street.“
Great grandmother Linda, 80, who lives on the street, told Mail Online: “At 3am on Thursday morning I woke up to the sound of people – delivery men apparently – screaming “fire, fire” and the sky outside was lit up.
“And I thought OMG what’s going on. And I looked out and saw the fire.
“I saw the car on the road was on fire. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was so bright. Blazing.
“I saw two fire trucks arrive and it took them a long time to control the blaze.
“The tree and the front wheel of a neighbours’ bike was scorched as well.
“The car belongs to our next door neighbours but they’re not the people who [live in] Starmer’s house”.
A witness to the car fire added: “There were bangs and the a huge fire. My bike was parked next to the car it’s tyre was split by the heat. It was very shocking.”
