Telegram questioned by Ofcom after arsonist who targeted Starmer-linked properties recruited on app

Telegram is facing questions from Ofcom over how it detects and prevents illegal incitement after a Ukrainian man was found guilty of carrying out arson attacks on a car and property associated with Keir Starmer. A spokesperson for the regulator said it had contacted the messaging app “to seek further clarification” because the arsonist had been directed on Telegram by a handler linked to Russia . Roman Lavrynovych, 22, was convicted of conspiring with others to commit arson attacks in May 2025 at two properties linked to Starmer, and setting ablaze a Toyota the prime minister once owned in a street in north London. He and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Ukrainian-born Romanian national who was found guilty of one count of arson, are due to be sentenced on Friday. Roman Lavrynovych, left, and Stanislav Carpiuc, will be sentenced on Friday. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/AP The trial heard that Lavrynovych and others had been offered payment to set fire to a car and two houses linked to Starmer via Telegram by a mysterious person named El Money, or “Hroshi” in Ukrainian, who communicated in Russian and Ukrainian. Reports in the Financial Times and BBC on Monday suggested Lavrynovych had been recruited several months earlier. The El Money account had links to a sabotage network based in Russia. …