Four men have admitted to deliberately setting fire to four ambulances operated by a Jewish charity in north-west London, destroying vehicles worth approximately £1 million in total damage during an early morning attack on 23 March.
Hamza Iqbal, aged 20, Rehan Khan, aged 19, Judex Atshatshi, and Saif Ali, both aged 18, entered guilty pleas at the Old Bailey to charges of destroying or damaging property while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. The incident targeted vehicles belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community emergency medical service, in the Golders Green area.
Prosecutors have characterised the incident as a deliberate attack directed at the Jewish community. According to the Crown's case, three of the defendants set fire to the fully stocked ambulances while the fourth remained in a waiting vehicle nearby.
The fire caused catastrophic damage beyond the ambulances themselves. Each of the four vehicles, valued at £250,000 apiece, was completely destroyed. The blaze also damaged four electrical charging stations and associated cables, with losses estimated at approximately £5,000 per station. During the attack, gas canisters stored inside the ambulances exploded, intensifying the destruction.
This case follows the initial attack in March, which shocked the Jewish community and was treated as an antisemitic hate crime. Police subsequently investigated possible links to Iranian-connected groups in connection with the incident.
Will the attack be treated as terrorism?
Leo Seelig, the prosecutor, informed the court that the Crown Prosecution Service intends to argue during sentencing that the arson attack should be classified as terrorism-related. However, Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb declined to make a ruling on this question at the current stage of proceedings, noting that defence representatives contested whether sufficient evidence existed to support such a classification.
What happens next?
Sentencing of the four men will be deferred pending the outcome of a separate trial involving a fifth defendant, Subhan Ahmed, who has denied the charge of assisting an offender in connection with the same incident. The judge's decision on whether to accept the terrorism classification will likely influence the sentences handed down once that trial concludes.
