With tears in their eyes and pain etched on their faces, the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire demanded “nothing less” than manslaughter charges against those responsible for the disaster.
The families said they had been “robbed of justice” and feared “perpetrators literally getting away with murder” as they faced a wait of at least three years to find out if anyone would be convicted for the failings that led to the inferno that killed 72 people.
At the culmination of the seven-year public inquiry, Tiago Alves, who survived the disaster, accused the multibillion-dollar companies whose products spread the fire of having “blood on their hands” while the Grenfell United group condemned the corporations as “little better than crooks and killers”.
At an emotional press conference in west London that opened with a minute’s silence, the bereaved sat in front of photographs of their loved ones and a set of kitchen scales weighing the seven-volume, 1,700 page inquiry report that apportions blame for the tragedy. The group said that, at the end of the inquiry, all they had been left with was “10kg of words on pages”.
The families, from the Grenfell Next of Kin group, blamed the calling of the inquiry in the immediate aftermath of the disaster for the delays in bringing prosecutions. The Met, which has been investigating the disaster, said the police investigation is independent of the public inquiry and cannot use its findings.
Maria Jafari, who lost her father, Ali Yawar Jafari, in the fire, left the table in tears after condemning the report as nothing more than a “big bag of paper”, saying: “Seven years have passed, and we still have no justice and we have to fight again. I don’t know how many more years it’s going to take and nobody knows if we’re going to be alive for the justice.”
Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members, thanked the inquiry for its findings but said: “This inquiry was forced on us … For me, as a direct kin, this inquiry hasn’t taught me anything. In fact, It’s delayed the justice my family deserves.”
He called the inquiry a “joke” and fought back tears as he added: “Words cannot describe the pain that I have gone through, the pain that my family has gone through, with having this inquiry running parallel to the criminal investigation.
“Watching the inquiry for me has been very painful. I’ve seen witnesses laugh giving evidence, which burns me inside. How can they have the cheek to do that, knowing that they are partially to blame for what happened on that horrific day?”
Shah Aghlani said the inquiry was set up as he was going from hospital to hospital looking for his mother, who he later discovered had died in the fire. His aunt was also killed.
“In no way were we involved in the beginning or consulted.” he said. “If somebody wanted to create a system that prevents justice you could not have created a better system than what is in place now.”
He said he believed that any future prosecutions would only result in “minor charges with perpetrators literally getting away with murder, which is the system we have in this country”. But he added that he would settle for “nothing less” than manslaughter charges.
Kimia Zabihyan, a spokesperson for the group, told how Francis Dean had been on the phone to his friend Zainab Deen, who was trapped in the block with her toddler, Jeremiah; both died.
Dean criticised the “seven-year delay to justice” as he told how he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and had lost his job in the aftermath of the fire. “Since that night I’ve not been the same person, I’m messed up,” he said.
Earlier, Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings showed they were “failed by calculated dishonesty and greed” and that their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic were “little better than crooks and killers”.
Speaking on behalf of the group after the report was published, Natasha Elcock said: “We paid the price of systematic dishonesty, institutional indifference and neglect.”
She added: “Above all, the judge concludes what we already knew. Every single loss of life that night was avoidable. Human life was never a priority, and we lost friends, neighbours and loved ones in the most horrific way – from greed, corruption, incompetence and negligence.”
Some survivors welcomed the report’s recommendations but said the fight was not over. Alves, who was at home on the 13th floor when the fire broke out, said: “I think it proves what we’ve been screaming and shouting about since 2017, but it’s good to have the evidence to back it up.”
He said the inquiry was an important step “towards the truth” but that he hoped for prosecutions. “Arconic, Celotex, Kingspan, and a bunch of the other corporates, Rydon, they all have blood on their hands,” he said.
Survivor Nicholas Burton said he feared that those affected by the fire would still be waiting for justice on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy. “We need jail time,” he said. “If I break the law, I’m going to jail and that’s the system that we work in.”
