A Leyton man was charged with the arson of a former synagogue in east London, the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service announced on Thursday, making him the second to be charged for the incident last Tuesday.
31-year-old Dominique Charles-Turner was previously arrested on Tuesday and has since been charged with arson with intent to endanger life for the attack on the former East London Central Synagogue in Tower Hamlets.
Wanstead resident Moses Edwards, who had been arrested on Sunday alongside a 52-year-old woman, was charged on Tuesday for his alleged role in the arson. The woman was released on bail.
The fire caused minor damage to the building gates, but no one was harmed.
The synagogue had been in the process of being sold to a local Somali Muslim organization. Acuitus Auctions listed the building as sold in February.
"The investigation team is working at pace to arrest all those suspected of being involved in the arson attack on the former synagogue," Counter Terrorism Policing London head Commander Helen Flanagan said in a statement.
Charles-Turner is the tenth person charged in relation to the wave of attacks, one of whom was convicted. A total of 33 people were reportedly arrested.
Wave of UK antisemitic attacks
The wave of attacks began with the March 23 ambulance arsons in Golders Green. On April 15, suspects attempted to set fire to the Finchley Reform Synagogue. The same day as the Finchley synagogue attack, suspected arsonists threw a burning container into the parking lot of the news outlet Iran International, but the fire died out on its own.
A building that was once the premises of a Jewish group, still with the organization's name on the window, was the target of an arson attempt on April 17. Three bottles containing accelerants were placed next to a building and set alight. The bottles failed to fully ignite, but minor damage was caused to the shopfront. The same day, a burning container was thrown into the parking lot of Iran International's office.
On April 19, the Kenton United Synagogue was firebombed, causing minor smoke damage to a room, but no injuries. On April 27, arsonists set a fire at the Golders Green memorial wall for Iranian protesters.
Most of the attacks were claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, with the most high-profile being the Golders Green stabbing attack last Wednesday, in which a 45-year-old Somali-born terrorist wounded two people before being subdued by police and Jewish neighborhood watch volunteers.