Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27 set fire to property and a car with links to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the orders of a shadowy online taskmaster with alleged links to the Russian state
Two men convicted of setting fire to property belonging to Keir Starmer on the orders of a shadowy taskmaster linked to the Russian state have been jailed today.
On Monday Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were found guilty of conspiring to commit arson attacks on property and a car linked to the Prime Minister.
The arson attacks involved setting fire to a Toyota RAV4 which had once belonged to Starmer as well as a home owned by the Prime Minister and occupied by his sister-in-law and her family and another house.
The fires were started in the middle of the night while people were asleep and posed a serious threat to life and left householders terrified, the Old Bailey heard previously. Today, Lavrynovych was jailed for seven years and Carpiuc for two.
Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Garnham told Lavrynovych he was a “useful idiot” and a “pawn” of his online handle.
“You agreed to carry out this mindless piece of arson for money. You were not a man of great principle and you were easily bought,” the judge said. He rejected the defendant’s claim he did not know the two houses he set fire to were occupied, saying: “You really didn’t care about that.
“I accept you did not intend to put the lives of the occupants at risk but it is my conclusion on both occasions you were utterly reckless about the risks you were creating.”
The judge accepted the attacks had been instigated by El Money, but told Lavrynovych: “You were to El (Money) a useful idiot and fool who could be manipulated to his advantage.”
Lavrynovych carried out the arson attacks after being recruited online by Russian-speaking Telegram user “El Money”, who promised him £3,000 in cryptocurrency if the blazes were filmed and made it into the news, prosecution told the court.
Investigations by the BBC found “El Money” was likely a Russian diplomat called Evgeny Lyukshinn who had been trained by spies and close Putin allies in “information warfare,” spreading hate and division online through fake extremist social media groups and paying individuals to commit crimes.
Following the convictions, Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London, said there was nothing to indicate “El Money” was a “state threat”. However, she said the motivation behind the attacks had been to “cause concern” and “disruption” in the community within the UK and “fear” for the Prime Minister.
She told the Press Association: “I think the intentions of the defendants was clearly to take payment, and to carry out a crime for money. There was no ideological motivation around that, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they knew who they were targeting, and that that was the Prime Minister or properties linked to the Prime Minister.
“However, clearly the intention from the online tasker was to create fear, both for the victim and the Prime Minister, and cause uncertainty, unrest, for the UK.” Ms Flanagan said the two defendants had acted as criminal proxies for “El Money” and issued a warning to anyone else tempted by “easy cash”. The identity of “El Money” was not discussed in the trial.
In his defence, construction worker Lavrynovych, from Sydenham, south London, admitted the arson attacks but claimed he had been threatened by El Money. Hotel worker Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, said he had refused to get involved and told Lavrynovych the plan was “stupid”.
In mitigation for Lavrynovych, James Scobie KC stressed the “shame” his client had brought on his family in Ukraine.
He said: “He gained absolutely nothing from this. He was used, on any view, utterly naive, utterly gullible, unthinking and a complete and utter foot soldier.
“How worrying that is for us all that there are individuals like this who are fodder for this type of infiltration who has not got a clue who the ‘big man’ was – turns out to be the Prime Minister.
“He is what he is – a boy, and a very immature boy at that.”
Carpiuc’s barrister Shahid Rashid said his client was “always the money man”.
He told the court: “His function was to realise the cryptocurrency. It is also important he was not going to get anything out of it. His motivation was helping a friend out who needed money desperately for his father’s medical treatment.”
Counter Terrorism Policing London have said it has found no evidence leading to any specific person, group or organisation to be associated with the El Money social media account.
