Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A second man has been charged in connection with arson attacks on properties connected to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The Metropolitan Police said Stanislav Carpiuc, a 26-year-old Romanian national, had been charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life following a series of fires in north London.
The charges relate to three fires, including one at Starmer’s family home in Kentish Town, and another involving a vehicle previously owned by the prime minister on the same street. A third fire was at a property in Islington that is also linked to Starmer.
Carpiuc was arrested at Luton airport on Saturday. Another suspect, a 34-year-old man, was arrested in Chelsea on Monday morning.
A third, Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, was charged last week with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life.
Lavrynovych has been remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at the Old Bailey on June 6. His legal team did not request bail.
Prosecutor Sarah Przybylska told the court on Friday that Lavrynovych’s alleged offending was currently “unexplained”.
Police on Tuesday said Carpiuc had been charged with “conspiring together with Roman Lavrynovych and others unknown to damage by fire property belonging to another”.
Carpiuc is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.
The investigation has been led by counterterrorism police due to the properties being linked to Starmer.