The sister-in-law of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described the moment her home was targeted in an arson attack and her fears over “what might have happened”.
Ukrainian Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and two others are accused of plotting to set light to a car and two houses linked to the Prime Minister on the orders of a shadowy Russian-speaking Telegram user called El Money.
Sir Keir’s sister-in-law Judith Alexander told the court how her home, which belongs to the Prime Minister, had been set alight in the early hours of May 12 last year.
In a statement read to the court, she said that she had moved into the property in Kentish Town, north London, after Sir Keir moved to Downing Street in 2024.
Shortly before the fire broke out, Ms Alexander had been lying awake in bed replying to a text message as her partner and daughter slept.
She said: “All of a sudden I heard two bangs. It was very loud and sounded like two wheelie bins had been thrown at the door.”
She woke her partner up asking what the banging was before turning out the side light and looking out of the window.
She said: “I did not see anyone on the street but when I looked down I saw smoke and an orange glow where the front door was.
“The smoke was like soot coloured. I would describe it as black billowing smoke and orange fire.
“I saw it and said ‘oh my, there is a fire outside the house’.”
Ms Alexander said she was “scared” as she called 999 and her partner went downstairs to investigate.
She said her daughter’s bedroom was located directly below the front door and she was woken up by the smoke.
The witness said: “We could see the smoke was getting thicker and going upstairs.
“I was frantically trying to call my sister Vic and anyone that would pick up my call but I could not get hold of anyone.
“It took the fire brigade 10 minutes or less to attend the address. I was not looking at the clock as I was calming my daughter down. I just wanted the fire to be out.”
Her daughter was “really frightened” and “extremely worried” and she gave them all Covid masks to wear, the court heard.
Ms Alexander said “I do not know what happened after this as I was still locked in the room upstairs with (my daughter).”
She said the house filled with smoke and she struggled to breathe as she has asthma.
Ms Alexander said: “I eventually calmed (my daughter) down by watching TV on my phone and she settled.
“When she finally fell asleep I went downstairs to my partner who had to sleep in our spare room because (my daughter) was in our bed.
“This was around 4am. I woke (my partner) up because the realisation of what happened really hit me.”
She was awake all night after it stuck her how close her daughter’s room had been to the fire “and if I did not wake up what might have happened”.
Two other alleged arson targets were a Toyota Rav4 car which once belonged to the Prime Minister and a house in Islington managed by a company of which Sir Keir had once been a director and shareholder.
Police raided Lavrynovych’s home in Sydenham, south-east London, early last May 13 and arrested him in bed.
During a search, a pair of trainers, a petrol can and a bottle of white spirit were seized and found to have the defendant’s DNA on them, the court heard.
In a police interview, he denied being involved in the fires, claiming he was at home on the dates of the first two incidents and visiting his friend Petro in Camden on the third.
Later, an officer asked if someone had asked him to set the fires.
Lavrynovych said: “I think you need to speak to a different person.
Asked who, he said: “I don’t know, I never saw this person.”
The officer asked: “Are you saying someone’s asked you to set fire to these three addresses?”
Lavrynovych allegedly replied: “Yes.”
In a later prepared statement, he claimed a contact “El” had offered him £1,500 to check for CCTV at two addresses at night but he was never paid.
He said: “I felt threatened. He threatened me by saying that I would have to do the job as he knew where I lived. I was scared as my grandmother lives at the same address and I could not be sure that he would not do anything.”
He insisted he “did not commit arson at any address” and he did not know who had.
Lavrynovych, Petro Pochynok, 35, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, all from London, deny conspiracy to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13 last year.
Lavrynovych also denies damaging two properties by fire with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered on May 11 and 12 last year.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
