\n<\/p>\n
Police investigating the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire have handed over files of evidence relating to 20 companies and 54 individuals to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan police described the move as a \u201cmilestone\u201d moment that paved the way for what it said would be \u201cthe very best possible evidence for charging decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Potential offences include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n
The Guardian has learned that a leading prosecutor has been appointed to head any possible court cases.<\/p>\n
The fire on 14 June 2017 \u2013 which was found by a public inquiry to have been avoidable \u2013 led to the deaths of 72 people in North Kensington, west London. It was the result of \u201cdecades of failure\u201d by central government to stop the spread of combustible cladding combined with the \u201csystematic dishonesty\u201d of multimillion-pound companies whose products spread the fire, a public inquiry found in 2024.<\/p>\n
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said charging decisions will be made before the 10th anniversary of the disaster, which falls on 14 June 2027.<\/p>\n
Kevin Southworth, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said: \u201cThis is a milestone moment in the police investigation into this devastating tragedy which took the lives of 72 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate, of course, it has taken nine years to get to this point. As we have said before, this is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency \u2013 the scale is truly enormous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we know this has had a significant impact on those waiting for answers, it has necessarily taken this long to ensure our investigation is meticulous and presents the very best possible evidence to the CPS for charging decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators have looked at the role of more than 15,000 people and 700 organisations as part of the inquiry, and have submitted 12,600 pages of evidence to the CPS.<\/p>\n
A total of 14,700 statements have been taken and more than 27,000 exhibits, including cladding, insulation, doors, windows and other parts of the building, down to screws, nuts and bolts, are stored in a secure warehouse.<\/p>\n
Scale replica parts of the tower are being built at a cost of \u00a32m in anticipation of potential court proceedings.<\/p>\n
Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS\u2019s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: \u201cToday marks an important step in the Grenfell Tower investigation, and we understand the enduring impact this tragedy continues to have on bereaved families, survivors and all those affected.\u201d<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/span>Free newsletter |<\/span>Every day<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sign up to Headlines UK<\/span><\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n He added that the CPS remained confident that it would complete the process and make charging decisions before the 10th anniversary of the fire next year.<\/p>\n Grenfell United, which represents some bereaved families and survivors, said: \u201cWe expect the Met and the CPS to do everything in their power to make sure this case moves forward without further unnecessary delay. Our families have waited long enough.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want those responsible to face justice. If people are found guilty of crimes that cost our loved ones their lives, we want to see them behind bars. Only then will people see that there are real consequences for what happened at Grenfell.\u201d<\/p>\n Survivors and politicians called for justice to be achieved rapidly before the 10th anniversary of the disaster.<\/p>\n The Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, Joe Powell, said: \u201cWe must do everything in our power to ensure that justice is delivered as swiftly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, thanked investigators for \u201cpainstakingly\u201d examining thousands of pieces of evidence, while the Labour MP David Lammy expressed disappointment it had taken so long.<\/p>\n Lammy said: \u201cI said the morning after Grenfell that it was an act of corporate manslaughter. I\u2019m pleased that this has happened but disappointed it has been so slow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police investigating the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire have handed over files of evidence relating to 20 companies and 54 individuals to prosecutors. The Metropolitan police described the move as a \u201cmilestone\u201d moment that paved the way for what it said would be \u201cthe very best possible evidence for charging decisions\u201d. Potential offences include corporate manslaughter,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[15932,3093,77,661,13243,2056,20023,364,1551,12135],"class_list":{"0":"post-52355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-cps","9":"tag-files","10":"tag-fire","11":"tag-firms","12":"tag-grenfell","13":"tag-hand","14":"tag-investigators","15":"tag-people","16":"tag-police","17":"tag-tower"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}