The Grenfell Tower fire: Justice delayed is justice denied
The Grenfell Tower fire: nine years after 72 Londoners were killed prosecutors will ponder possible criminal charges.
The fire at Grenfell Tower in west London on 14 June 2017 kills seventy-two men, women, and children.
Survivors, bereaved, and residents of the Lancaster West Estate campaign hard in the aftermath for the truth about what caused the fire. They demand politicians, corporate officials, and government officers responsible be brought to justice – especially those who wrapped the tower in flammable cladding.
They call for genuine change so that people can live safely in similar towers.
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A Metropolitan Police criminal investigation into the fire only begins after an ‘inquisitorial’ public inquiry finishes. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry reveals the prevalence of complacency, incompetency, negligence, arrogance, and greed amongst those responsible.
The Inquiry Panel concludes: ‘Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, but, as our reports show, all contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases through incompetence but in some cases through dishonesty and greed.’
Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick, when first appointed on 29 July 2017, says: “I understand the desire of local people for justice; justice for them…will best be served by a vigorous inquiry that gets to the truth as quickly as possible.”
But Moore-Bick’s inquiry costs £178 million and takes seven years.
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On 19 May 2026 London’s Metropolitan Police announces the completion of its criminal investigation – nearly nine years after the fire – and that it is ‘on track by the end of September 2026 to submit all files for charging decisions to the Crown Prosecution Service’. (See Note 1).
The Police state fifty-seven people and twenty organisations are suspects of criminal offences that include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, misconduct in public office, fraud, and health and safety breaches.
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Two organisations, Grenfell United, and Grenfell Next of Kin, made up of bereaved, survivors, and residents of the Lancaster West Estate (which includes the Grenfell Tower), react sharply to the Police announcement.
‘For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration,’ states Grenfell United. ‘No family should have to wait over ten years for justice for their loved ones…
‘The final report of the Grenfell Inquiry laid bare the shocking failures, dishonesty and disregard for human life that led to the fire. Grenfell was not a tragedy without cause. Those responsible must now be held to account.’
But Grenfell United worry potential prosecutions will not be recommended by the CPS until 2027. Trial juries might have to wait until 2029 to hear the evidence because England’s court system suffers chronic delays and a lack of funding.
The Public Inquiry ‘process’ may also have undermined criminal charges brought by the CPS.
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Grenfell Next of Kin is a voice for the immediate families and friends of those killed. It states the Police announcement is of ‘little comfort to us.
‘There is a complete breakdown in trust…Confidence in the system has been shattered. The criminal investigation and justice process should always have come first and been given priority. Instead, the public inquiry was prioritised ahead of criminal accountability and delayed our justice.
‘Everything connected to Grenfell has been handled upside down and the wrong way round.’
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Grenfell Next of Kin add the Police’s criminal investigation ‘crawled behind the Public Inquiry like an afterthought’.
‘Seventy-two people killed, and instead of the largest homicide investigation, the Police were told to wait politely until the Public Inquiry had finished.’
Meanwhile, says Grenfell Next of Kin, the people involved in the circumstances leading to the fire, ‘carried on with their lives, careers, pensions, and reputations intact while the process (of the Inquiry) took priority over actual accountability’.
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Postscript
The Metropolitan Police states it does not wish to pre-empt CPS decisions but claims ‘work has also begun on next steps should charges be brought’. One such next step is a plan to ‘build a replica of elements of the tower to assist any potential future juries’. There is a deep irony in any Police plan to build even a partial replica of the Grenfell Tower.
By May 2026, the actual tower is no longer widely visible as it undergoes gradual deconstruction in advance of being replaced by a planned memorial.
Then Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, announced the deconstruction of the Grenfell Tower on 5 February 2025. Rayner promises parts of the Tower will be ‘carefully removed and returned for inclusion’ as part of a Memorial, ‘if the community wishes’.
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The immediate families of 13 of the deceased make a ‘final goodbye’ visit to the Grenfell Tower in July 2025. They detect ‘handprints on the wall’ – in the communal stairwell landing area between Floors 12 and.
They also see an inscription, ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is Great)’, written in Arabic, between floors 17 and 18. The families immediately request these sections be saved for the possible memorial.
‘To destroy these elements is to erase history, memory, and proof of what happened,’ state the families. The handprints on the stairwell ‘aren’t simply marks on concrete; they’re tangible human traces of fear, survival, and resilience’.
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Officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) suggest there is ‘no evidence to authenticate’ the handprints are from the night of the tragedy’.
People condemn that official remark as a ‘disgraceful and shameful dog whistle.’
A bereaved family member says: ‘You (the Government) are bringing the Tower down at a cost of millions of pounds…Even the most basic request – the preservation of a wall in the staircase with soot, handprints, and an inscription to God – is being denied.’
‘We will not let this tragedy be sanitised,’ says Karim Khalloufi, who lost his sister Khadijah Khalloufi to the fire.
‘We have no choice but to fight for our loved ones to preserve this history,’ adds Shah Aghlani, whose mother Sakina Afrasehabi and sister Fatemeh Afrasehabi were killed.
Grenfell survivors and bereaved are further angered when the MHCLG reveals the handprints will be conserved but not the Arabic phrase.
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This removal of the Grenfell Tower, trace by trace, piece by piece, floor by floor, is why Grenfell Next of Kin states:
‘Seventy-two dead. A decade of delay. No charges. No prosecutions. No accountability.
‘And an eco-system paid to make it disappear. Cha-ching.’
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Notes
- The Metropolitan Police states on 19 May it has 220 investigators working to submit charging decision files to the Crown Prosecution Service by September. Fifteen of 20 files are already with the CPS. Ten of 14 ‘overarching evidence files’ are complete.
- The Police claims it has examined the role of 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations, with 14,400 statements taken.
- The Police stores 27,000 exhibits in a warehouse, including Grenfell Tower cladding, insulation, doors, and windows.
- Grenfell Next of Kin advocates for the parents, partners, children, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren of those killed because of the Grenfell Tower fire.
- Grenfell United campaigns for justice for survivors, bereaved, and residents impacted by the fire.
- Then Prime Minister Theresa May announces a public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 on 15 June 2017, appointing Sir Martin Moore-Bick as chairman. Moore-Bick receives renumeration from the inquiry of over £210,000 for 2018-19. Phase 1 focuses on the events on the night of 14 June 2017, and reports in October 2019. Phase 2 examines the causes of those events, and the final report is published in September 2024.
- The Inquiry concludes ‘the simple truth is that the deaths were all avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants’.
- ‘They include the government, the Tenant Management Organisation, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, those who manufactured and supplied the materials used in the refurbishment, those who certified their suitability for use on high-rise residential buildings, the architect, Studio E, the principal contractor, Rydon Maintenance Ltd, and some of its sub-contractors, in particular, Harley Curtain Wall Ltd and its successor Harley Facades Ltd, some of the consultants, in particular the fire engineer, Exova Warringtonfire Ltd, the local authority’s building control department and the London Fire Brigade.
- ‘Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, but, as our reports show, all contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases through incompetence but in some cases through dishonesty and greed.’ (Statement on Publication of Phase 2 Report, Grenfell Tower Inquiry, 4 September 2024).
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© Paul Coleman, London Intelligence, May 2026, London.
