Teen pleads guilty to arson at London synagogue, says he has ‘no hate’ toward Jews

17-year-old prosecuted in latest attack on UK Jewish institution says he didn’t know it was a synagogue; police still seeking two other suspects

By AP and ToI Staff 22 April 2026, 9:03 pm

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Police officers patrol at a cordon near Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, a suburb of London, April 19, 2026. (Jamie Lashmar/PA via AP)

A teenager has pleaded guilty to arson but claimed he was unaware that the targeted building in northwest London was a synagogue, and said he bore no ill will toward Jewish people.

The attack was among several separate assaults against Britain’s Jewish community in recent weeks. After the 17-year-old boy was arrested along with a 19-year-old in connection with the incident, Matt Jukes, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the arrests came amid a pattern of “thugs for hire” as the UK sees “the pressure of hostile states bearing into our communities.”

The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to arson not endangering life when he appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Surveillance footage showed the boy climb over a wall at Kenton United Synagogue, in Harrow, on Saturday night, and set light to a bottle of liquid before throwing it through a broken window. The fire caused some smoke damage, and no one was injured.

The boy said he did not know the building was a synagogue and that he didn’t intend to harm anyone.

“I have no hate toward the Jewish people,” he said in a written statement. “I am very sorry for my actions.”

The boy was released on bail and ordered to appear at Willesden Youth Court on June 4. In addition to the 19-year-old, who has been released, police are seeking two other suspects.

Police stand outside the scene of an antisemitic arson attack in the Golders Green neighborhood of north London, on March 24, 2026. (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)

There has been a series of arson attacks against synagogues and other Jewish targets in the UK since March 23, when four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity that serves people of all faiths in Golders Green, north London, were torched. No one has been injured in any of the incidents.

Police have said they are looking into whether Iran is behind six recent attacks, including one on a Persian-language media organization critical of Iran’s government, amid the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, which is currently in a ceasefire.

Counterterror police said 23 people have been arrested so far. Seven of those were held on suspicion of conspiring to set fire to an unspecified Jewish venue, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

The newly founded Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, which has links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for many of the recent attacks across Europe on American, Israeli and Jewish targets, according to SITE Intelligence Group.