London Fire Brigade Among Those Facing Possible Grenfell Charges
The London Fire Brigade and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation have confirmed they are among the bodies facing possible criminal action over the Grenfell Tower fire. Prosecutors received a file on 20 organisations and 54 individuals this week. Both were criticised over failings relating to the fire and will learn next year whether they are to be charged.
Naming the fire brigade changes the shape of the case. The public account has centred until now on the firms that supplied and fitted the cladding and the bodies that signed it off; a file that includes the emergency service which attended, and the organisation that managed the block for the council, extends the question from how the tower came to burn to how the night itself was handled. The offences the Metropolitan Police is seeking include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences and fraud, over the deaths of seventy-two people in 2017. Kensington and Chelsea council and the housing ministry have also been referred. Charging decisions are promised before the tenth anniversary next June — nine years and no one held criminally accountable, as Grenfell United put it this week: “We want those responsible to face justice.” Watch whether individuals are named rather than only institutions.