Victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster face a wait of at least three years to find out if anyone will be convicted for the failings that led to the fire, despite the official report’s blistering conclusions.
Police already suspected before the report was published that the fire and deaths were the result of criminal acts, having carried out their own extensive inquiries. A victims’ group said the official report’s findings backed their view that those to blame should be brought to justice.
The Metropolitan police, which has been investigating the disaster, justified the further delay, saying: “We have one chance to get our investigation right.”
Offences being considered even before the publication of Wednesday’s report include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud and health and safety offences, police have said.
The Met investigation is examining the causes of the fire for criminal culpability along with how the west London tower block came to be in such a condition that the blaze could spread so widely, with catastrophic consequences.
The Met deputy assistant commissioner, Stuart Cundy, said the official report reached “clear conclusions”, but added it would take a further 12-18 months for detectives to send full files of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will make the charging decisions.
Police and the CPS earlier this year said criminal trials, if they take place, should not be expected until 2027.
Cundy said: “The report is direct, comprehensive and reaches clear conclusions. 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 12-18 months.
“This will lead to the strongest possible evidence being presented to the Crown Prosecution Service so it 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.”
The Met has a team of 180 officers and staff on its inquiry investigating 19 companies or organisations and 58 individuals.
About 50 people have been interviewed as suspects under criminal caution, the Met has said, and suspects and witnesses may have to be reinterviewed because of the findings and evidence in Wednesday’s report.
Police have removed the exterior of the tower as part of their investigation and have also recovered cladding, insulation, doors, windows and screws, nuts and bolts from the charred remains at the scene. All are stored in a huge warehouse.
The Met says it is one of its most complicated criminal investigations, with 27,000 lines of inquiry. Its expects to get files of evidence to the CPS, which makes charging decisions in England and Wales, by 2026.
Grenfell United, the group of survivors and families, said in a statement that the inquiry report vindicated its view, previously expressed by their lawyers to the inquiry, that some of the companies involved were “little better than crooks and killers”.
The group said: “We have an expectation that the Met police and the CPS ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice.”
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, said: “Those responsible must now be immediately held to account for their systematic dishonesty, corporate greed, institutional indifference and neglect. Companies found to have been to blame by the inquiry must no longer receive any public contracts as the police and CPS look into the bringing of criminal charges.”
In a statement, Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS’s special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “We have been working closely with the Metropolitan police service throughout their investigation, and will therefore be in a strong position to review the completed evidential file, which they anticipate will be passed to us in 2026.
“Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file, but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.
“Due to the sheer volume of evidence and complexity of the investigation, we will need to take the necessary time to thoroughly evaluate the evidence before providing final charging decisions.”
