The key facts
- Stanislav Carpiuc, sentenced to two years for a conspiracy to commit arson, has been deported from the UK, the Home Office said; the destination country was not specified.
- The attacks in May 2025 affected a car and two houses linked to Sir Keir Starmer, then prime minister.
- Accomplice Roman Lavrynovych was sentenced to seven years; the BBC linked the commissioners to the Russian state through the handler EL.
Deportation of the convicted man
The UK Home Office announced that Stanislav Carpiuc, a 28-year-old Romanian citizen of Ukrainian origin, has been deported from the country. He was one of two men convicted of conspiring to set fire to property linked to Sir Keir Starmer. In June, Carpiuc was sentenced to two years in prison. The department did not specify exactly where he was deported to. In its statement, the Home Office described the attack as 'despicable' and said the sentences should serve as a warning to anyone who succumbs to promises of money from strangers.
Timeline of the attacks
The series of arsons took place in May 2025, when Starmer was serving as prime minister. On 8 May 2025, a car he had previously owned (a Toyota) was found ablaze on a street in Kentish Town, where he used to live. On 11 May, a fire was recorded in flats in neighbouring Islington, where he had lived years earlier. The next day, fire was discovered at the entrance to his house in Kentish Town, which he was letting to his sister-in-law Judith Alexander. She told the court about billows of black smoke rising up the stairs while she was in the house with her partner and daughter.
Sentences and the Russia link
Lavrynovych and Carpiuc were found guilty of conspiring with each other and 'with other persons' to destroy property by fire between 1 April and 13 May 2025. Roman Lavrynovych, a 22-year-old Ukrainian citizen, received seven years in prison in June. A BBC investigation showed that the attacks were part of a broad campaign of sabotage, provocations and disinformation leading back to the Russian state. An anonymous handler known as EL promised Lavrynovych payment, offered Russian citizenship for other attacks and praised President Vladimir Putin. Evidence gathered by the BBC indicated that EL could be a young Russian diplomat.
Image source, Metropolitan Police via Press Association
Stanislav Carpiuc was convicted over attacks against the former prime minister
Image source, Metropolitan Police
Sir Keir Starmer's former Toyota car was set alight in May 2025
