Three teenagers and another man have pleaded guilty to setting fire to ambulances owned by a Jewish charity in North London causing over £1million in damage as part of an attack claimed by an Iranian-backed militant group.

The men were expecting payment for the attacks which was claimed by a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya – the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.

Saif Ali, then aged 17, from Walthamstow, North London, is said to have rented a car used in the attack and issued orders to the others, afterwards boasting in messages that he had 'done a mad ting'.

He appeared at the Old Bailey, bearded and in a grey jacket, to plead guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

He appeared along with Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, both from Leyton, East London, and Judex Atshatshi, 18, from Dagenham, who appeared from prison by video link.

Khan had allegedly sought to shift the blame for the attack onto a gang called the Northumberland Park Killers.

A fifth man, Subhan Ahmed, 18, from Walthamstow, east London denies assisting an offender after allegedly hiring the getaway car to the men and making arrangements for it to be scrapped two days after the attack.

Ashatshi has a string of offences for possessing knives, dating back to October 2023 but the other men have no previous convictions.

The arrests followed an investigation by Counter-Terrorism Policing into the arson attack at around 1.35am on March 23 when four ambulances from Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service operating in the Golders Green area of north London, were set on fire.

Leo Seelig, prosecuting, told the hearing that the prosecution would submit there was a terrorist connection to the attack at a sentencing hearing to take place after Ahmed's trial next year.

Mr Seelig told earlier hearings that a total of more than £1million damage was caused to the ambulances, which were fully stocked and cost up to £250,000 each, and to four electrical charging stations.

The oxygen tanks inside three of the four ambulances exploded, causing damage to a block of flats and the side of a synagogue.

When Ali, who is now aged 18, was arrested on April 1, he threw his mobile phone out of the window, which showed he had used the AI feature on Snapchat to identify the synagogue where the arson was committed.

Messages on February 16 with Ahmed, the owner of a blue Toyota Avensis estate, bought for £1,300 from an auction house called CoPart, showed a picture with damage to a wing mirror.

A screenshot on Ali's phone also showed an inquiry with an insurance company for a blue Toyota Avensis, to check it was insured before cloning the plates used in the arson.

Data on the phone showed Ali had looked up 'how much do ambulance cost' and 'how long does it take for police to investigate arson', along with a Google search on March 22 for 'What shop sells fireproof gloves'.

CCTV footage from the attack showed the individuals had used a similar blue Toyota Avensis with cloned number plates and taping to the wing mirror on the passenger side.

A message thread dated March 22 found on his phone showed Ali had been in contact with a stolen phone used by Judex Atshatshi, who had sent him his home address.

Investigations revealed that Iqbal, who was driving a blue Toyota Rav 4, was with Ali in the same area of Dagenham where Atshatshi lived, shortly before midnight on March 22.

Around the same time, Khan received a missed call from Iqbal and 'tasking' from Ali that read: 'Be ready, we will all buck up, take your time, be 100 per cent.'

During the raid, Khan left his phone at home on a call for two hours in an attempt to disguise his own movements, the prosecutor said.

However, evidence from mobile phone cell site data, CCTV footage, automatic numberplate recognition cameras (ANPR) and ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) data was pieced together to track the Toyota Avensis as it travelled to the scene of the attack where three people left the vehicle, wearing dark tracksuits, hoodies and balaclavas.

One was carrying a bucket which they apparently used to set fire to the ambulances before driving off at speed, through a number of side streets, onto the A406 North Circular road, and back to East London.

At Khan's address in Leyton, four individuals got out of the Avensis, one carrying a bucket, and Khan ran along the road to collect his phone before arriving in a silver Peugeot 206 to collect the others.

They took Atshatshi back to Dagenham before arriving back in Leyton, half an hour later, in the Peugeot and the three men swapped into Iqbal's Toyota Rav four which eventually dropped Khan back at his address in Leyton at 3.20am.

In messages recovered from Ali's phone, he promised Atshatshi would be 'paid good' and boasted about the fire and comments by the Prime Minister.

In the Snapchat conversation on March 23, which started around an hour and 15 minutes after the arson attack, Ali told a contact he had: 'Done a mad ting.'

A Snapchat message saved on Khan's phone from March 25, showed him saying: 'U see the ambo ting, spread the word that it was the lot behind it. Say the f***ing gang behind it was NPK, pls innit,' said to be a reference to an organised crime group called the Northumberland Park Killers.

Late on the night of March 31, Ali had a Snapchat conversation in which he told the other person that burning out a vehicle would be quick and would completely destroy the vehicle, leaving no fingerprints.

The defendants were remanded in custody ahead of their sentencing hearing.