A second person who has been charged over fires at two properties and a car linked to Keir Starmer has been denied bail.
Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, a Romanian national, is accused of conspiring with Roman Lavrynovych, who has already been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life, and others unknown.
Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command took over an investigation after a spate of fires in north London. One of the fires took place at the prime minister’s family home in north-west London, which he now lets out to his sister-in-law. The blaze was reported to police by firefighters in the early hours of Monday last week. Police said damage was caused to the property’s entrance but no one was hurt.
A car that Starmer had sold to a neighbour last year was set alight four days earlier on the same street. On 11 May, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house where the prime minister is understood to have lived in the 1990s, before it was converted into flats. Police have arrested three people in total over the fires. A third man, 34, was arrested in Chelsea, west London, on Monday.
The prosecutor Sarah Przybylska told a hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday: “At this stage, the alleged offending is unexplained.”
Carpiuc, who is said to have been born in Ukraine, was arrested on Saturday at Luton airport. He denies being present at the scene of any of the fires, the court was told. A Russian-language interpreter was involved in translating proceedings for him.
Jay Nutkins, a barrister appearing for Carpiuc, said the suspect had lived in the UK for nine years and had just recently finished a two-year business studies degree from Canterbury Christ Church University. He was now working in construction and living in east London.
The chief magistrate Paul Goldspring denied the application for bail, which had been opposed by Przbylska, appearing for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Carpiuc was remanded in custody until an appearance at the Old Bailey on 6 June.
Last week, Lavrynovych, a 21-year-old Ukrainian national, was charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. He was the first person to be arrested, last Tuesday morning in Sydenham, south-east London.
