An arsonist who set fires at two houses linked to Sir Keir Starmer has been deported from the UK, the Home Office said.
Stanislav Carpiuc was sentenced to two years in prison in June after being convicted alongside his accomplice Roman Lavrynovych. The pair were behind three arson attacks within five days of each other in May last year.
Attacks on properties linked to the former prime minister
On May 8, a car previously owned by the then-prime minister was found on fire on a street in Kentish Town, and on May 11, another fire was found at flats in nearby Islington where Starmer had lived several years before. A day later, a fire was set at the entrance to a home owned by Starmer in Kentish Town, which he had rented to his sister-in-law Judith Alexander.
The incidents prompted outlandish conspiracy theories online, but following the convictions, it was revealed they were directed by a mysterious handler believed to be linked to the Russian state.
Russian link and sentencing
A Telegram account called El Money was in contact with Lavrynovych and offered him payments in cryptocurrency for carrying out the crimes. The account was linked to a 23-year-old diplomat whose father was a senior Russian official, according to a BBC News investigation.
Carpiuc, 28, was convicted of conspiring with others to damage property by fire. A spokesperson for the Home Office said: 'This was an abhorrent attack and the conviction and imprisonment of these men should send a clear message to anyone blinded by the promise of money from strangers. You will be caught and face severe consequences. This individual has now been deported from the UK.'
Deportation and co-defendants
It was not specified where Carpiuc had been sent. The Romanian national received a shorter sentence than Lavrynovych, 21, who was jailed for seven years over the five-day arson spree. He was described by judge Justice Garnham as 'essentially acting as a pawn for some unknown cause and putting the lives of people asleep in their beds at risk as a result'.
A third man, Petro Pochynok, 35, who is a Ukrainian citizen, was cleared of the same charge.
