Two years on and still no-one’s been called to account over the Grenfell Tower tragedy — it’s time for answers
IT was London’s most deadly tragedy since the Blitz – but more than two years since the Grenfell Tower fire claimed 72 lives, the survivors are still in turmoil.
Today we can disclose the cost of housing traumatised residents in hotels has soared past £30million, with several families still waiting to be rehomed.
Our probe comes days before the release of a major report into the inferno in June 2017. NO ONE has yet been prosecuted over the catalogue of failings which led to the disaster.
A police investigation is ongoing and there is a separate public inquiry led by retired Appeal Court judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
Police said in March that criminal charges would not be considered until the second and final phase of the public inquiry has finished — which could take up to two years.
But survivors of the blaze have now called for the findings of phase one, due to be announced on Wednesday, to be used to help bring those responsible to book.
Karim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle in the fire and is vice chair of the bereaved families and survivors group, Grenfell United, said: “This report won’t bring our loved ones back, but it could save others.
“It is so important those responsible are held to account. There will have to be prosecutions.”
But, more than 28 months since the blaze on June 14, 2017, people are wondering if they will ever get justice.
Karim, 33, said: “There are so many questions. Why did the fire spread so fast? Why has the fire brigade still not done evacuation training for high-rise buildings?
“There are still huge numbers of tower blocks with the same cladding and not enough is being done to improve social housing.
‘There will have to be prosecutions’
“Grenfell Tower was not safe to live in. But the police investigation is separate to the report and we have yet to see a person face prosecution for how it was built.
“Our message to Boris Johnson is please make sure this never happens again.”
In addition to the 72 deaths, 70 people were injured in the Grenfell Tower disaster. A total of 223 escaped the blaze.
Despite great aid efforts to look after survivors, many have been left in dire situations.
We found that while 192 families have moved into new homes, eight are still in temporary accommodation and one is living in a hotel.
Wheelchair-bound Mariko Toyoshima-Lewis, 43, and her three children were placed in a new home without disability access. Another former resident said she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Helen Gebremeskel, 47, took legal action against the council after she and her daughter Lulya, 14, were placed in a block of flats with lifts. She said: “We cannot live in a block after what we went through.”
Thankfully, Helen and her daughter are now in a West London flat after asking housing chiefs for a more suitable home.
The council made £129million from selling property in the five years before the tragedy — but cut spending at the same time.
They even saved £300,000 by using cheaper, more combustible cladding that made the tower block light up like a candle. Yet since the blaze some of those in charge have been busy rewarding themselves financially.
Freedom of Information requests have revealed that 12 council leaders received a total of £93,174 in bonuses last year — an average of £7,765 per person. And 52 staff working in housing received £131,804 in bonuses — £2,534 per employee on average.
This was a huge rise on the £103,298 paid out in bonuses the year before the fire. Campaign group Justice for Grenfell said council members should “hang their heads in shame” over the “vulgar” sums.
Nearly £30million has been spent on hotels for the survivors — that’s five times the equivalent cost in today’s money of building the 1970s tower block.
In total, 59 bed-and-breakfasts and hostels have been used for temporary accommodation. The council has spent more than £219million buying 300 homes for survivors.
But a new building chosen to house families in Kensington has been deemed a fire risk itself.
In August inspectors said the Hortensia Road block, a mile from Grenfell, has “errors” including “no evidence” cladding had been inspected. The public inquiry’s report on the fire has been 20 months in the making.
The first phase of its conclusions out this week is expected to address why firefighters ordered Grenfell residents to stay in flats when an inferno was raging.
It will also examine why 999 call-centre workers told tenants to stay in flats even when they said smoke or fire was in their homes. Jessica Urbano Ramirez, 12, died in the tower after being told by call operators to stay put and await rescue.
‘999 responders did not call back’
Her aunt, Sandra Ruiz, has called on inquiry chairman Sir Martin not to hold back. She said: “The report had better be hard-hitting. “She trusted that person on the end of the phone was going to get her out.”
The report should also give answers on whether the building was “non- compliant” given that it was wrapped in dangerous cladding and there was a lack of fire prevention measures such as sprinklers.
This will form a key part of whether individuals will be prosecuted. In July the Government’s safety panel demanded that similar high-pressure laminate panels be stripped from 100 buildings across the UK to make sure the disaster is not repeated, but progress has been slow.
The families of 69 victims and 177 survivors are taking legal action against US firms Arconic, which manufactured the cladding, Celotex, which made the insulation, and Whirlpool, which owns Hotpoint, the make of fridge that is thought to have started the blaze.
But their lawyers have claimed in court papers that Arconic has failed to produce key documents related to Grenfell’s refurbishment.
An Arconic spokesman told The Sun: “What the claimants’ lawyers have said in their recent filings is not correct. Arconic is providing information in the US lawsuit.”
For Grenfell United spokesman Karim, there are many questions from the report that need answers.
He said: “There were so many failings. Even when the ‘stay put’ directive was lifted 999 responders did not call people back to tell them to get out.
“The Tenant Management Organisation and the council did not have an up-to-date list of tenants so the fire brigade had little idea who might be inside.”
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Elizabeth Campbell, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: “This council is doing all it can to assist and help the public inquiry and we understand the actions of those serving the council prior to June 14, 2017 will be under intense scrutiny in the coming months.
“We hope those giving evidence accept this and understand what their duty is. Grenfell can never happen again. If it does, the inquiry will have failed.
“At the council, we believe our duty is to the truth only. Whatever it takes and whatever the consequences.”
My dad warned of risk
BLAZE survivor Bobby Ross has spent two years living in a hotel after the home given to him became a fire hazard and started leaking.
He left his two-bedroom flat in Hammersmith, West London, when water started pouring through a light socket.
Ross, 29, said: “I feel like I have been left at the very bottom. Many times I have attempted or considered suicide.”
On the night of the tragedy, he left Grenfell Tower at midnight. When he returned, it was ablaze.
His dad Steve Power, 63, and their three pet dogs died in the inferno. Steve had been told to stay in their flat.
Describing the aftermath, Bobby said: “I didn’t eat anything and I didn’t sleep during that first 48 hours.
“For more than 15 years my dad had been telling them how dangerous the tower was. He was continually ignored.”
Council took my dignity
DISABLED mum Mariko Toyoshima-Lewis says Kensington and Chelsea Council stripped her of all dignity.
The former Grenfell resident was put in a small hotel room with her children Kohana, 11, Taiyou, nine, and seven-year-old Aozora.
Mariko’s wheelchair would not fit into the bathroom and she had to use facilities in a separate hotel.
The family’s most recent home was temporary accommodation in Ladbroke Grove, West London, which was not fully adapted for a disabled person.
Mariko, who has a spinal problem, has split with her husband.
She said: “The council don’t care about human dignity. I want people to know what is going on.”
On the night of the fire, she told her family to leave first so she would not slow them down.
Mariko said: “I kept smiling at my children. I didn’t want them to panic.”“I told them, ‘Mummy is coming later’.”
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