Man who tried to start Iranian Embassy car fire guilty of attempted arson

Builders working near the Iranian Embassy found the device before it was triggered

A man who planted a viable incendiary device outside the Iranian Embassy in London has been convicted of attempted arson with intent to endanger life.

Iranian dissident Sam Parsa, 60, shoved a bottle of petrol and a scarf into the exhaust pipe of a diplomatic car in the early hours of 5 September 2018.

Builders working near the embassy in Kensington spotted the device a day later, the Old Bailey heard.

Sentencing is set for 25 January, pending a mental health report.

Parsa has been remanded in custody.

His trial heard how officers recovered CCTV footage of a figure crouching next to the BMW and "fiddling around" by the exhaust before walking off.

'Rotten and fossilised'

Prosecutor Benjamin Holt told jurors the device would have caused a "pool fire" if someone had turned on the car's ignition.

"Such a fire is, you may think, is inevitably going to endanger the life of people in the car and any pedestrians who might be walking past at the time," Mr Holt said.

An examination of the plastic bottle and scarf linked them to Parsa through his DNA, jurors heard.

Police arrested Parsa at his home in Tottenham, north London, seven weeks later.

In a search of his flat, officers found recordings of Parsa speaking on a US-based radio show.

In them, Parsa criticised the "rotten and fossilised" Iranian regime, saying he was an ex-political prisoner who had fled to England as a refugee.