The man arrested over three suspected arson attacks involving properties connected to the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister is a Ukrainian national, London’s Metropolitan Police have said.
21-year-old Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian national resident in south-east London suburb Sydenham has been identified as the man arrested, as previously reported, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Police said he was charged on Thursday evening with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning and, per The Daily Mail appeared in a prison-issue track suit with a Ukrainian-language interpreter. He spoke to confirm his name and denied three counts of arson. The prosecutor is reported to have called the offence “unexplained”.
The three fires investigated by the UK’s counterterrorism police all impacted property belonging to or linked to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. Taking place over the course of four days, they were a house and a car on one London road, and a property in a second London neighbourhood.
In the cases of the alleged arson blazes at the properties they were small and caused no injuries. The burnt car, which is “linked” to the Prime Minister, was totally destroyed.
The Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised the charges laid by police, told the media and public not to speculate on the case now it is going through the courts to preserve “the right to a fair trial”.
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