Third Arrest Made Over Attempted Arson at North London Synagogue

Counter-terror detectives arrested a 19-year-old man in Portsmouth on Thursday in the investigation into an attempted arson attack at Finchley Reform Synagogue, making him the third person held over a case that has unsettled Jewish communities across north-west London. Police said the man was taken into custody on suspicion of attempted arson after officers from Counter Terrorism Policing London detained him at an address in the Hampshire city.

The investigation centers on the early hours of 15 April 2026, when someone tried to set fire to the synagogue on Fallow Court Avenue in Finchley. Police said the building suffered no damage and no injuries were reported. Two other suspects, a 38-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man, were arrested in Watford on the same day on suspicion of arson endangering life and remain on bail to a date in July.

The Finchley case is now being treated as part of a wider pattern of arson attacks affecting Jewish and Israeli-linked sites across north-west London. Police have linked the synagogue incident to the attack on volunteer-run ambulances serving the Jewish community in Golders Green on 23 March, and to an arson attack on the offices of a Persian-language media organisation later on 15 April. On 19 April, senior Metropolitan Police officers said several premises linked to Britain’s Jewish community and those opposed to the Iranian regime had been targeted, and that most of the incidents had been claimed online by Ashab al-Yamin, also known as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right. The force has said it had seen public reporting that the group may have links to Iran, while stressing that the incidents had not, at that stage, been declared terrorism.

The growing investigation has sharpened concerns well beyond Barnet. Cath Shaw, Barnet Council’s chief executive, described the Finchley attack as a “reprehensible antisemitic attack” and a “cowardly act” meant to intimidate the community. Finchley Reform Synagogue said it was grateful nobody had been hurt and the building was unharmed, but warned that the emotional and psychological impact was significant. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the recent attempted antisemitic arson attacks in north London and said visible policing was being increased. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the wave of incidents a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community.”

Police and fire services have stepped up patrols, forensic work and reassurance policing as counter-terror investigators assess intent, coordination and the risk to community venues. The Metropolitan Police has said the threat level is severe and that it is providing protective security advice and support to Jewish community sites and businesses, a sign that the case is being measured not as an isolated act but as part of a broader threat landscape.