Boy, 17, charged after Kenton synagogue attack

Boy, 17, charged after Kenton synagogue attack

WATCH NOW: Matthew Pennycook says the Government will do everything in its power to 'stamp out' antisemitism in Britain

|

GB NEWS

Susanna Siddell

By Susanna Siddell, 


Published: 21/04/2026

- 09:33

Updated: 21/04/2026

- 10:34

No one was injured in the attack on Saturday night

A 17-year-old boy has been charged after a suspected arson attack on Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, London over the weekend.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the unnamed teenager, charged with arson, is a British national from Brent, north London.


He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

The boy has been accused of arson not endangering life.

On Saturday night, a person was spotted lighting a bag in the doorway of the place of worship in north west London.

Officials later discovered the bag contained three bottles with fluid in them, at around midnight on Sunday morning.

Smoke filled a room after a "bottle with some sort of accelerant had been thrown through the window", a Metropolitan Police spokesman previously said.

In the aftermath, the Community Security Trust (CST) confirmed an internal room sustained minor smoke damage.

Kenton United Synagogue scene following an arson attack

Police cordoned off the area for investigation over the weekend

|

PA




In footage shared online, a figure in dark clothing can be seen lighting a bottle of liquid and hurling the item through a window at the London synagogue.

Over the weekend, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis branded the attack as an act of cowardice.

Following the incident in Harrow, deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans confirmed that Counter Terrorism Policing are leading all of the investigations into the string of recent incidents on Jewish and Israeli buildings.

Ms Evans shared the attacks on Israeli and Jewish properties were "similar in nature" across the capital.

Finchley Reform SynagogueFinchley Reform Synagogue was targeted during an overnight arson attack |

PA

Most have been claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, she added.

Previously, four Jewish community ambulances were set alight in an arson attack on March 23.

On April 15, Finchley Reform Synagogue was the subject of an investigation after an attempted arson attack.

A man, 46, and a woman, 47, have both been released on bail after they were arrested on suspicion of arson endangering life.

The attack is currently been treated as an antisemitic hate crime, police confirmed last Wednesday.

Police claimed the balaclava-clad pair approached the place of worship at around 1am and hurled a brick and two bottles at the building.

Iranian-backed proxies are now the subject of police investigations into the latest attacks on Britain's Jewish community.

Matt Jukes, deputy commissioner of the force, said: "I think that's a very serious line of inquiry in relation to these events, we've seen a pattern… people taking cash as it looks like quick and easy money.

"Teams I led have put in prison individuals like Dylan Earl, who is serving a 17-year prison sentence for acting on behalf of the Wagner group, in that case, Russian connected.

"But this is part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies."