United Kingdom Court hears defendant says he was threatened into arson attack on car linked to Keir Starmer
A court in London has heard that a defendant admitted setting fire to a car that once belonged to Keir Starmer after saying he had been threatened by a man using the pseudonym El Money.
Roman Lavrynovych told the Old Bailey he was paid £3,000 for the attack and feared for his safety and that of his family.
Lavrynovych, 22, is one of three men accused of arson attacks on a vehicle and two houses in north London linked to the prime minister.
The court heard the Toyota Rav4 was burnt out in Kentish Town in the early hours of 8 May last year.
The blaze was treated as suspicious after two further attacks on property connected to Starmer days later.
Lavrynovych said he had initially refused the offer of payment in cryptocurrency, but later agreed after what he described as threatening messages from a Russian-speaking man he believed to be powerful.
The evidence matters because it goes to the question of motive and whether the attack was part of a wider coordinated series of incidents.
The case is being heard at the Old Bailey, with the prosecution alleging a broader pattern of arson linked to the prime minister.
Lavrynovych told jurors he had been living with his grandmother in Sydenham, south-east London, at the time.
