A Ukrainian man who set fire to a car that once belonged to the Prime Minister was told he had done a “bad job” because his co-defendant filmed it poorly, a court has heard.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, is accused, along with Stanislav Carpiuc and Petro Pochynok, of arson attacks on a vehicle and two houses in north London linked to Sir Keir Starmer.
In the early hours of May 8 last year, a Toyota Rav4 car which once belonged to Sir Keir was burnt out in Kentish Town.
The blaze was only treated as suspicious after two more attacks on property connected to the Prime Minister days later.
Giving evidence on Monday, Lavrynovych told the Old Bailey that Pochynok “was expected to record the process of how I did the fire but he did instead the recording of me walking away from the fire”.
An image showed Lavrynovych walking towards the camera and away from the vehicle that he said was at that point “set a little bit on fire”.
Footage of the alleged arson on Countess Road was sent to a taskmaster called El Money who had been instructing him on the jobs, the court has heard.
The defendant said he believed multiple people used the El Money Telegram account – at least one woman and “maybe even two or three” men – because the messages were in Ukrainian or Russian.
El Money had wanted video of the fire to be broadcast on the news but it was not, the defendant said through a translator.
El Money was unhappy with the result, Lavrynovych said, telling jurors: “(He) told me that we did a bad job and the car is not on fire there.”
Lavrynovych added: “He said that it’s a video for two seconds and there is no view of the fire being set up.
“And he said that later they had checked and they didn’t see (the) car on fire. He told me that this video might be not a genuine one.”
The defendant had been offered £3,000 in cryptocurrency to set the Toyota alight, the court heard previously.
“I didn’t get any money as he told me I would get my money after I do my job the proper way,” Lavrynovych told jurors.
He was then tasked with setting fire to a building on nearby Ellington Street, that jurors previously heard was managed by a company of which the Prime Minister had once been a director and shareholder.
Lavrynovych said he was the building would “look like office” and he must set fire to the main door.
“He told me there are no people in there… he told me the specific time and he said at that time there are no people there,” the defendant added.
He allegedly used white spirit and he told the court the Ellington Road job was deemed a “success”.
Lavrynovych added that he had understood burning the door would make it a success.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13 last year.
Lavrynovych is also charged with 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.
Lavrynovych, of Lewisham, south-east London, Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, and Pochynok, of Islington, north London, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
The trial before Mr Justice Garnham continues.
