Boy, 17, pleads guilty to synagogue arson attack

A 17-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to arson not endangering life after an attack on a synagogue in north-west London on Saturday night. The plea on Tuesday came as seven people were arrested over an alleged separate plan to commit an arson attack targeting the Jewish community, the Metropolitan Police said. The teenager, a British national from Brent who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested by the Met Police on Sunday after a bottle containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue on Shaftesbury Avenue, Kenton, on Saturday night. Minor damage was caused to the building and no-one was injured. Jewish charity the Community Security Trust said the attack on Kenton United Synagogue caused minor smoke damage to an internal room but there was no significant structural damage. At Westminster Magistrates' Court, District Judge Nina Tempia freed the teenager on bail with conditions including to live and sleep at his home address and to not enter any synagogue. He is scheduled to appear at Willesden Youth Court on 4 June. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator of Counter Terrorism Policing, said: "This