Four men plead guilty to arson attack on Jewish ambulances in London

Four men have pleaded guilty to destroying four Jewish community ambulances in an arson attack causing about £1m of damage.

Hamza ⁠Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and Judex Atshatshi and Saif Ali, both 18, admitted to a charge of destroying or damaging property being reckless whether life would be endangered.

Atshatshi, Khan and Iqbal entered their pleas by video link from Wandsworth and Pentonville jails, with Ali in the dock of the Old Bailey on Friday.

Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola were set on fire on the morning of 23 March while they were parked near a synagogue in Golders Green, an area of north London that has a large Jewish community. Prosecutors said the attack caused about £1m of damage.

The prosecutor, Leo Seelig, suggested the incident had a “terrorist connection” although no mention was made in court of potential proxies working for Iran.

Previously, counter-terror police had looked into the possible involvement of Iranian proxies in the Jewish ambulance arson, as well as other attacks on Jewish sites in London. Most have been claimed online by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.

However, in April, Iran’s embassy in the UK said it “categorically rejects” allegations of involvement in “violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom”.

Three of the defendants were said to have set fire to the fully stocked vehicles while a fourth waited in a blue Toyota Avensis. The resulting blaze caused gas canisters inside the ambulances to explode and nearby flats and a synagogue were also damaged by the fire.

The four men were arrested after an investigation by counter-terrorism police.

On his arrest on 1 April, Ali threw his mobile phone out of the window, the court was previously told. The defendant, then aged 17, had been in contact with someone in February with a view to buying a blue Toyota Avensis and had researched online the cost of ambulances.

The prosecution had alleged Ali went on to source the Toyota that was used in the attack, with WhatsApp messages between him and a co-defendant relating to the purchase.

Prosecutors have said they believe the incident was a targeted attack against the Jewish community.

Hatzola is a Jewish charity established in 1979 and run by volunteers, providing free medical transportation and emergency response to Jewish and non-Jewish people in north London.

As well as the ambulances, said to have cost between £240,000 and £250,000 each, four electrical charging stations and cables costing about £5,000 each were also damaged.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb ordered pre-sentence reports for Iqbal and Khan, from Leyton, east London, Atshatshi, from Dagenham, east London, and Ali, of dual British-Pakistani nationality, from Walthamstow.

Remanding them in custody, the senior judge said their sentencing would take place in the spring of 2027 at the conclusion of a separate trial.

At the same hearing, a fifth defendant, Subhan Ahmed, 18, from Walthamstow, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assisting an offender.

Ahmed, who is alleged to have helped to get rid of the car used in the attack, will go on trial at the Old Bailey on 27 January next year.