UK counterterror police arrest man on suspicion of arson after Starmer fires

Digest opens free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

A man was arrested on suspicion of burning the public in relation to a series of fires, including at the home of the Sir Kerr Starmer and other properties associated with the Prime Minister.

The Capital Police said that a 21 -year -old was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of burning deliberate operations with the intention of endangering life.

In a statement, MET said that the arrest of fire in a four -bedroom bedroom in the city of Kantic in the early hours of the Monday, as well as a car in which the fire caught fire in the last days in the same street and engraved in the offices of Starmer in the postal code N7.

The fire in the home of the Starmer family, which the Prime Minister rented to the tenants after moving to 10 Downing Street in July last year, caused damage to the entrance to the property.

In the statement, Met said: “As a preventive measure, and because of the existence of previous links with a high -level public figure, officers from the Met’s Met Terrorism lead the investigation of this fire. Inquiries are continuing to determine its cause.

“The investigation team is also studying two other incidents – a vehicle fire in NW5 on Thursday, May 8, and fire at the entrance to N7 on Sunday, May 11 – and they are achieved whether it may be linked to the fire in NW5 on May 12.”

Met added that the three fires “are treated as suspicious at this time.”

MET warned Monday evening that it was not yet clear whether the three fires were connected, but the anti -terrorist police were following this as an investigation line.

The police did not believe that the fire at Starmer’s house was started by an explosive device, but they continued to investigate the fire source, adding a person familiar with the investigation.

The three fires with potential links to Starmer are likely to increase fears within the government about a coordinated campaign against the Prime Minister.

MET did not say immediately on Tuesday if they expected more arrests to follow up.

The participation of anti -terrorist officers, who specialize in distinguishing the nature of a possible attack, is common when prominent property is the subject of fire damage.

Starmer’s house has targeted the demonstrators in the past, including in the Israeli war-they are in Gaza.

The UK is facing many threats, and Ken Mi5, president of MI5, warned in October that Russian spies were on a “mission to generate chaos” in the streets of Britain and that Iran was provoking fatal pieces in “unprecedented pace and size.”

In June of last year, three supporters of Palestinian demonstrators were convicted of public order crimes after they appeared outside the Starmer house in northern London.