Four young men appeared at London’s Old Bailey court and pleaded guilty to destroying four Jewish community ambulances in an arson attack that caused about £1 million in damage, according to reports from the BBC. Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali, 18, all admitted to a charge of destroying or damaging property while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
Four Men Plead Guilty to Arson Attack on Hatzola Ambulances
The attack occurred in the early hours of March 23 in Golders Green, a north London area with a large Jewish population. Four fully stocked vehicles operated by the volunteer emergency service Hatzalah—also referred to as Hatzola—were set on fire while parked near a synagogue. During the incident, three of the defendants set fire to the vehicles while a fourth waited in a nearby car. The resulting blaze caused gas canisters inside the ambulances to explode, damaging nearby flats and a synagogue.
Each of the destroyed ambulances was valued between £240,000 and £250,000. Additionally, the fire damaged four electrical charging stations and cables costing approximately £5,000 each.
Legal Proceedings, Terrorism Arguments, and Sentencing
During the court hearing, prosecutor Leo Seelig stated that the Crown Prosecution Service would argue that the four men should be sentenced on the basis that the arson attack had a terrorist connection
and was related to terrorism. However, defence counsel argued that there was no evidence for such a connection at this stage. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb indicated she would not rule on the question of terrorism immediately.
The senior judge ordered pre-sentence reports for Iqbal and Khan, who are from Leyton in east London; Atshatshi, from Dagenham in east London; and Ali, of dual British-Pakistani nationality, from Walthamstow. All four defendants were remanded in custody. Justice Cheema-Grubb ruled that their sentencing will take place in the spring of 2027, following the conclusion of a separate trial.
At the same court hearing, a fifth defendant, 18-year-old Subhan Ahmed from Walthamstow, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assisting an offender. Ahmed is alleged to have helped dispose of the car used in the attack, a blue Toyota Avensis. His trial is scheduled to begin at the Old Bailey on January 27.
Impact on the Community and Wider Context
Run by volunteers since 1979, Hatzola is a Jewish-led non-profit organisation that provides free emergency medical response and hospital transportation to people of all backgrounds across north London. Representatives from the Community Security Trust welcomed the guilty pleas, with a spokesperson stating that the defendants’ actions caused immense shock and distress across the Jewish community
and describing the incident as an appalling antisemitic act against a volunteer ambulance service providing emergency medical assistance to people of all backgrounds across north London.
Authorities and prosecutors previously treated the incident as a targeted attack against the Jewish community. The investigation into the arson also drew broader counterterrorism scrutiny. Counterterrorism police previously examined potential connections between the Golders Green fire and other attacks on Jewish sites in London, some of which were claimed online by the group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya. Meanwhile, the Iranian Embassy in the U.K. has stated that it categorically rejects any allegations of involvement in violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom.
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