Grenfell fire survivors demand manslaughter charges and warn against Hillsborough-style wait for justice

Bereaved survivors express fears the seven-year Grenfell inquiry has delayed the prospect of criminal prosecutions as pressure mount on the Met to speed up investigation

Survivors whose loved ones were among the 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire seven years ago have demanded “nothing less than” than manslaughter charges over the tragedy.

The long-awaited final report of the inquiry ordered by Theresa May just hours after the fire on 14 June 2017 was finally published on Wednesday, condemning decades of institutional failures that led to the Kensington tower block – and thousands of others – being covered in dangerously flammable cladding.

But those whose loved ones were killed in what was the worst residential blaze since the Blitz have expressed anger that the inquiry appears to have delayed their fight for justice, with police and prosecutors warning that decisions on criminal charges will not be made until the end of 2026.

Sir Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that Grenfell survivors have been ‘let down very badly’ (PA Wire)

“We have been robbed of our justice, and under no circumstances moving forward in a tragedy should this be allowed to happen again where you have a criminal investigation running parallel to an inquiry,” said Hisam Choucair, whose sister, brother-in-law, mother and three nieces died in the Grenfell fire.

At an event on Wednesday organised by Grenfell Next of Kin – a campaign group supporting around half of those whose loved ones died in the tragedy – survivors repeatedly insisted that those responsible for the tragedy must face charges no less severe than manslaughter.

Members of a support group for the next of kin and families of some the 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire (Yi Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

Shah Aghlani, aged 55, who lost his aunt and disabled mother in the fire, said: “To me, its a manslaughter charge and nothing less would do.”

Kimia Zabihyan, who chaired the event, said: “For families, [the report’s findings are] not anything they didn’t know already, and the only thing they’ve asked for from the beginning is justice. And justice means manslaughter charges.”

Mr Aghlani, who spent the morning that the inquiry was announced going from hospital to hospital searching for his mother, told The Independent that the prospect of facing no criminal prosecutions for more than a year “is our worst fear coming true, our nightmare coming true”.

No matter “how precise and accurate” the inquiry’s final report is, “we still don’t have justice – and it looks like we’re not going to”, Mr Aghlani said.

On Thursday morning, Labour’s Angela Rayner urged the Met to carry out its investigation as quickly as possible.

“The Met have been investigating this, and they have outlined that they will continue their investigation,” she told Sky News. “Our job is to ensure they can carry on and give them all the support they need.

“We cannot have a situation where justice is delayed, because that is justice denied. So, as quickly as possible the Met Police will carry out their investigations and we have to support that process.

“What I have read has really angered me, upset me and affected me. Seeing the survivors, and seeing the families of those who lost their loved ones, and then reading what inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick has put is absolutely appalling, the police absolutely have our full support in taking the action they need to take.”

The 72 victims of the Grenfell tragedy (PA Wire)

In May, Scotland Yard said its mammoth criminal investigation into the fire had generated 27,000 lines of inquiry and more than 12,000 witness statements, making it one of the largest ever undertaken.

A total of 19 companies and organisations were under investigation for potential criminal offences, along with 58 individuals, and more than 300 hours of interviews had taken place.

But campaigners cited the Metropolitan Police as telling them at a previous meeting that they have “never known a public inquiry to be conducted at the same time as a criminal investigation”, with such inquiries normally taking place once criminal proceedings have concluded.

Natasha Elcock, chair of the Grenfell United campaign group, told The Independent: “Our fate will always be in someone else’s hands and it has been for the last seven years.

Natasha Elcock urged the Met to ensure ‘that every single person that is culpable for the deaths of our loved ones is held to account’ (PA)

“The most we can hope for at this point today is that the report and the government bring about systematic change. The Met Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have explained that they need the report to cross-reference and ensure that they’ve got what they need in order to bring prosecutions. For us, that is the ultimate justice.

Ms Elcock added: “We were under no illusions from as early as 2018 that this was going to be a 10-year process, but what we won’t allow to happen as a community is this to rumble on like Hillsborough and other injustices that we’ve seen in this country.”

Ms Elcock was not alone in referencing the decades-long fight for justice after the Hillsborough disaster which killed 97 people in 1989, the surviving families of whom have seen just one person convicted – in 2019 – of a single safety offence and handed a fine of £6,500.

Francis Dean, who was forced to say goodbye over the phone to his friend Zainab Deen – who lived on the 14th floor at Grenfell – after her two-year-old son Jeremiah had already died in the blaze, said: “When you think of Hillsborough – how many years did that take?

Grenfell survivor Francis Dean questioned whether he would live to see justice (Yui Mok/PA)

“Am I going to be alive when we do get justice? Because we are going to fight for it. The younger generations that are coming up are even more desperate than us to have justice because they were young when this happened and it’s seven years on. They’re the ones who will probably see justice.

“For me, it’s difficult that all these companies are just passing the buck, each and every one blaming the other one. If that’s the case, you’re all guilty.”

Former prime minister Theresa May announced the public inquiry in 2017. On Wednesday she said the government must acknowledge its part in the series of events, adding : “I know that, while necessary, the inquiry process can be immensely distressing for all those involved. I would like to pay tribute to the bereaved families and the survivors for the dignity they have shown in the face of a tragedy so extreme, it is beyond our imagining.”

Meanwhile, seven years on from Grenfell and thousands of residents across the country are still waiting for the dangerous cladding on their homes to be removed.

According to June’s figures, 4,630 residential buildings in England still have unsafe cladding, with half of those still waiting to start remediation.

The cost of that inaction was underscored last week when a tower block in Dagenham in the process of remediation went up in flames. While there were no casualties, Mr Aghlani labelled the blaze “Grenfell Two” and suggested the lack of accountability for the 2017 fire made further tragedies more likely.

The blaze in Dagenham broke out at flats undergoing remediation (PA Wire)

“Do you think, if there was people being arrested like they would have been in America or other places, that the fire in east London would have happened?” he said.

“Swift justice would make sure that people in charge actually take their responsibilities seriously and act accordingly. But when you get justice like ours, you get council employees throwing documents away because you know there’s not going to be any consequences even when they’re found out.

Urging the new Labour government to do more to ensure such a tragedy never happens again in the UK, Mr Dean added: “Charity begins at home, so the government needs to look at all these buildings.

“Don’t put money in front of people’s lives, put life in front of money. No matter how much it would cost to bring down all this unsafe cladding, at least it’s not causing death – untimely death.

“All those people who died that night, they deserve to be here now. That should have never happened in this country. Never. It’s shocking.”