Only manslaughter charges will bring justice, families of Grenfell victims blast as report lays bare raft of failings

ONLY manslaughter charges will bring justice, families of Grenfell victims have blasted after a report laid bare a raft of failings.

The long-awaited report into the deaths of 72 people in a fire at Grenfell Tower in west London has been published more than seven years after the blaze.

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At a press conference this afternoon, campaigner Shah Aghlani said the inquiry into the fire was announced while he was still looking for his mother, who died in the blaze.

He spoke out after a report revealed decades of failures which culminated in the fire.

Mr Aghlani said manslaughter charges should have been brought against those responsible far sooner.

And he warned the inquiry risked becoming a “barrier” to justice instead of delivering it.

He said: “An inquiry was announced on a day that I was looking for my mum, basically going from hospital to hospital trying to see which hospital she might be in.

“To me, I was looking at the tower, and I was telling myself all the evidence is before your eyes.

“I think if somebody wanted to create a system that prevents justice occurring, you could not have designed a better system that is in place.

Finally some answers: Analysis by Jack Elsom

BY Jack Elsom, Chief Political Correspondent

FINALLY some answers for the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the families who have campaigned tirelessly for seven years.

In a major moment for the new Prime Minister, a pitch-perfect Sir Keir Starmer responded to the long-awaited report into the 2017 tragedy with one of the hardest words for a politician to say: sorry.

Addressing them directly in the House of Commons – where some of the bereaved were watching – the PM issued an apology on behalf of the British state.

“The country failed in its fundamental duty to protect you. I am deeply sorry.”

Sir Keir may have been a million miles from government at the time of the fire and during the preceding “decades of failure” that led to it.

But it now falls to him to act. The families today made clear their desire both for justice and for change.

He is already trying to demonstrate he can act quickly, by blocking the named-and-shamed construction firms from getting any more government contracts.

And the full 58 recommendations from Sir Martin Moore-Bick will be considered over the next six months.

But what will likely trouble the PM the most are the terrifying failures of state that appear all-too common in recent years.

How many inquiries in modern times have laid bare a damning assessment of systemic, underlying problems?

Infected blood, the Post Office, Child Sexual Abuse. The list goes on.

Sir Keir has already identified the need to “fix the foundations” of the British state – voters will hope he comes good with some serious change.

“Now, the system, I think the government knowingly derailed the justice that should have followed.

“They should have ensured that such an inquiry does not become a barrier to holding the perpetrators of the crime and making him fully accountable.

“But I’m afraid that this is what happened.

“The task of the inquiry, the mammoth task as it was going through all those documents of titanic proportions is not deniable.

“But the reality is to me, I don’t have justice and any future prosecution that is foreseeable.

“There are no consequences for people who fail while they are in office. They can just go and ignore it.

“They are not afraid. If we had rightful prosecution in hand, these things won’t happen.

“To me it’s a manslaughter charge and nothing less would do. Unless it’s fixed, you are not safe in your own home.”

This afternoon PM Keir Starmer told the Commons Britain failed to protect Grenfell victims.

Starmer today apologised on behalf of the British state – saying families were “let down so badly”.

Starmer told MPs this afternoon that ministers will be writing to the companies implicated in the “horrific failings” that led to the 2017 tragedy.

The PM said this would be “the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.

Speaking in the Commons – where some of the victims’ families were watching –  he issued an apology on behalf of the British state.

The PM said: “I want to start with an apology on behalf of the British state to each and every one of you. It should never have happened.

“The country failed in its fundamental duty to protect you…I am deeply sorry.”

He said he would consider all of the recommendations laid out in the Grenfell Inquiry.

The unscrupulous construction firms shamed by the Grenfell Inquiry will be blocked from getting any more government contracts, he said.

Meanwhile, today’s harrowing report into the 2017 tragedy revealed further details about the victims’ causes of death.

The report found that all of the victims burned by the fire were dead or unconscious due to “inhalation of asphyxiant gases”, primarily carbon monoxide.

The disaster also claimed five other victims, including three who jumped from the tower, stillborn baby Logan Gomes, and 74-year-old Maria del Pilar Burton, who died in January 2018.

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said expert evidence suggested it was possible for residents to descend the tower’s stairs “without danger of collapse” by 1.49am.

After that it was still possible but “more hazardous due to the dense smoke and absence of visibility”.

The report said: “In light of Professor David Purser’s evidence, we think it likely that those who died in the tower after having left their flats inhaled most of the carbon monoxide that killed them while they were descending the stairs.

The report reveals:

• Residents ‘abandoned’ and ‘utterly helpless’
• Landlords saw fire safety as ‘inconvenience’
• ‘Defective’ guidance on fire tests
• ‘Systematic dishonesty’ of building firms
• Safety ‘ignored and disregarded’
• All 72 deaths avoidable
• Some victims died before flames reached them
• Government ignored warnings
• Campaigners say ‘Justice not delivered’

“Those who did not survive the journey down the stairs had inhaled a significant amount of asphyxiant gases while in their flats and before entering the stairs.”

It added that the “key distinction” between those who survived and those who died is that “those who survived left before the fire spread to the outside of their flats or the rooms in which they were sheltering”.

It concluded that “all the deceased were comatose, and in most cases dead, before they were exposed to significant heat”.

“The severe burning of bodies was likely to have occurred in all cases sometime after death when the fire entered the flats and consumed the combustible contents,” the report added.

In one tragic story heard as part of the inquiry, Ahmed Elgwahry told of his mum and sister’s last moments.

In a heart-wrenching final phone call, that lasted from 2.33am until 4.27am, Ahmed tried to encourage his sister Mariem Elgwahry to flee as her coughing increased.

Ahmed said Mariem, who was in flat 205, started to panic as the landing filled with black smoke.

He then heard her mumbling and making a deep humming sound.

She was initially able to make banging sounds in response to his requests but stopped responding soon after, he said.

Ahmed then heard his mother say in Arabic: “I can’t breathe.”

Around ten minutes later he could hear the sound of glass windows breaking and the fire entering the flat.

‘Failed by calculated dishonesty and greed’

Bereaved loved ones of victims and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have said the inquiry’s final damning report shows they were “failed by calculated dishonesty and greed”.

It comes as it was also found the tragedy could have been stopped 26 years before the inferno.

Successive governments ignored warnings about the building’s flammable cladding for decades – with concerns about materials first emerging in 1991.

Sir Martin added: “The failings can be traced back over many years, and our efforts to get to the bottom of what went wrong and why accounts for the length of our report and the time it has taken us to produce it.

“We find that there was a failure on the part of the government and others to give proper consideration at an early stage to the dangers of using combustible materials in the walls of high-rise buildings.”

Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were “little better than crooks and killers”.

They criticised previous governments who they said “aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation” and called on some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.

Their statement also said that while the report is a “significant chapter” in the years since the fire, “justice has not been delivered” as they restated their call for police and prosecutors to “ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice”.

After the final report was published, Grenfell United said: “Today marks the conclusion of a painful six years listening to the evidence of the deaths of 54 adults and 18 children, our loved ones, neighbours and friends.

“It is a significant chapter in the journey to truth, justice and change. But justice has not been delivered.

“The inquiry report reveals that whenever there’s a clash between corporate interest and public safety, governments have done everything they can to avoid their responsibilities to keep people safe. The system isn’t broken, it was built this way.

“It speaks to a lack of competence, understanding and a fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care.”

The group’s statement added previous governments had created “voids” by outsourcing their duties to corporate bodies – who “filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials”.

Cops going through report 'line by line'

BY Harry Goodwin

Detectives will go through the Grenfell Inquiry report line by line as they have “one chance” to get their investigation right, a senior officer has said.

Those affected by the disaster face a wait of another year to 18 months from the report’s publication before they find out whether any criminal charges will be brought over the tragedy.

Police and prosecutors said in May that investigators will need until the end of 2025 to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said on Wednesday: “Our police investigation is independent of the public inquiry.

“It operates under a different legal framework and so we cannot simply use the report’s findings as evidence to bring charges.

“To secure justice for those who died and all those affected by the fire we must examine the report, line by line, alongside the evidence from the criminal investigation.

“As I said previously, this will take us at least 12 to 18 months.

“This will lead to the strongest possible evidence being presented to the Crown Prosecution Service so they can make charging decisions.

“I can’t pretend to imagine the impact of such a long police investigation on the bereaved and survivors, but we have one chance to get our investigation right.

“We will be thorough and diligent in our investigation while moving as swiftly as possible. We owe that to those who died and all those affected by the tragedy.”