Four men plead guilty to £1m arson attack on Jewish emergency service vehicles in London

Guilty pleas at the Old Bailey

On 28 August 2026, four young men admitted their involvement in an arson attack that destroyed four community ambulances in north-west London. Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali, 18, entered guilty pleas at the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey. They admitted a charge of destroying or damaging property being reckless as to whether life would be endangered. Iqbal and Khan, both from Leyton in east London, along with Atshatshi from Dagenham, entered their pleas via video link from Wandsworth and Pentonville prisons. Ali, a British-Pakistani resident of Walthamstow, appeared in person in the dock. All four defendants remain in custody ahead of their sentencing, which is scheduled for spring 2027.

Details of the Golders Green attack

The arson occurred during the early hours of 23 March 2026 in Golders Green, a north London neighbourhood with a large Jewish population. Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola were parked in a lot adjacent to a synagogue when three of the individuals set them on fire. A fourth accomplice waited nearby in a blue Toyota Avensis. The resulting blaze triggered explosions of gas canisters stored inside the fully equipped medical vehicles. The fire destroyed all four ambulances, valued at £250,000 each, causing roughly £1 million in total vehicle damage. The blaze also destroyed four electric vehicle charging posts and cables worth approximately £5,000 each, while inflicting exterior damage on adjacent residential flats and the neighbouring synagogue building.

Legal proceedings and disputed terrorism links

During the court proceedings, prosecutor Leo Seelig stated that the Crown Prosecution Service intends to argue that the four defendants should be sentenced under terrorism provisions. Defence counsel rejected that characterisation, stating that there is no evidence establishing a link between the accused and any proscribed terrorist organisation. High Court Judge Cheema Grubb announced that she will not make a formal ruling on the terrorism issue at this stage. A fifth defendant in the case, 18-year-old Subhan Ahmed, entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of assisting an offender. Judge Cheema Grubb determined that the sentencing of Iqbal, Khan, Atshatshi, and Ali will take place in spring 2027 following the conclusion of Ahmed's trial, which is scheduled to commence at the Old Bailey in January 2027.

Investigation and community background

Evidence presented in earlier court hearings indicated that the attack involved weeks of advance planning. Saif Ali was in contact with an associate in February 2026 to acquire the blue Toyota Avensis used during the incident, exchanged WhatsApp messages regarding the purchase, and researched ambulance prices online. When police arrested Ali on 1 April 2026, he threw his mobile phone out of a window. A group named Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI) claimed responsibility for the Golders Green incident and subsequent arson attacks in London that targeted a synagogue, a former synagogue, the Iran International media organisation, and an Iranian memorial wall. The British government has linked HAYI to the Al-Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hatzola, an organisation founded in 1979 whose Hebrew name means to rescue, provides free emergency medical response and hospital transport to the local community.