Latest news with #GarryMoncrieff
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
A replica tower block in an 'evidence room' big enough to fit 25 London buses. 12,000 witness statements, 152m documents and a £100m taxpayer bill. Why, eight years on, Grenfell victims fear they'll never see justice
No one would ever guess it, but a warehouse big enough to park 25 double-decker buses inside, at an undisclosed location somewhere in London, has become an unlikely base for the police investigation into the Grenfell fire. The premises, in fact, resembles a branch of B&Q. The entire exterior of what remained of the 24-storey block, dismantled piece by piece for forensic analysis, is stored inside: cladding panels, insulation, doors, windows and every last nut, bolt and screw that was salvaged. It is quite possibly the biggest 'evidence room' – more than 27,000 exhibits have been assembled – anywhere in the world. It is here that the Metropolitan Police are now planning to construct a replica of part of the tower block, 'built to detailed specification and full-scale', to help juries at any future trials understand how the fire, which claimed the lives of 72 people, including 18 children, spread in the early hours of June 14, 2017. Obviously, the 'new tower' would not fit inside a courtroom so jurors would be taken on a site visit to the warehouse. The proposed course of action was revealed by Det Supt Garry Moncrieff, the senior investigating officer, in a letter to victims' families and survivors. Few could doubt the painstaking dedication involved in such a project, nor the resilience of individual rank-and-file officers themselves, who have worked tirelessly to leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of the truth of what happened that night. But after eight years and counting, amid escalating costs and interminable hold-ups – not to mention a six-year public inquiry, the final 1,700-page report from which was published last September – the latest revelation has left the families of victims and survivors dismayed despite assurances from the Met that the reconstruction would not 'impact on our timescales or cause any delay'. 'Will we ever get justice?' they are asking today. It's a valid question: the investigation will not be concluded until at least September 2026, at the earliest, with any trials possibly stretching well into the 2030s. The old saying 'justice delayed is justice denied' could have been coined with Grenfell in mind, especially when the final police bill is likely to top £100million. The number of officers working on the case has been increased to 180 at a cost of almost £24million this year alone, it has now emerged. 'Many of us do not want the police to be given a penny more,' said Kimia Zabihyan, advocate for the group Grenfell Next of Kin, a volunteer who delivered clothing and food to those who needed help in the immediate aftermath of the inferno and has now become a voice for the bereaved. 'They believe their grief has become an exploitable commodity. More than one relative I have spoken to has used the word 'extortion' because to them it feels just like that, like the Met is saying, 'If you want justice, you've got to keep paying us', and the response of central government is to keep writing a blank cheque. 'No one is really watching or, if they are, they are too scared to speak out because it might look like you are going against victims. But the families I speak to feel exactly the same way. 'The latest idea, to build a replica tower, is extraordinary. The attitude of relatives now is, 'Enough is enough.' They fear that they may never see justice.' Their frustration is understandable. Companies involved in the catastrophic refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, situated on a council estate in North Kensington next to some of the capital's most expensive postcodes, were accused of displaying a 'cavalier attitude' to fire safety. Sir Martin Moore-Bick's inquiry report also blamed a culture of 'systematic dishonesty' among construction firms who provided cladding and other materials that left the block coated in highly flammable materials. The executives who run these firms, which have raked in hundreds of millions of pounds in the years since the tragedy, enjoy six-figure salaries, drive luxury cars and live in palatial homes. The contrast between their privileged lifestyles and the fate of victims and their families is an enduring and uncomfortable sub-plot to the scandal in which, to quote a former fire officer at the time, 'there was a failure of every component of fire safety and building management'. This is the wider narrative to Kimia Zabihyan and the Grenfell Next of Kin's condemnation of the timeline and cost of the criminal investigation codenamed Operation Northleigh. It began on the night of the tragedy. Since then, more than 27,000 separate lines of inquiry have been followed up, more than 12,000 witness statements taken, more than 152million documents and files retrieved, and more than 50 suspects connected to 19 companies or organisations involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, which included the fitting of flammable cladding, have been interviewed under caution. The deadline for the completion of the investigation has already been put back six months from March next year to September 2026, which means decisions over any potential criminal charges will not be taken until 2027 – ten years and counting, in other words, from the actual fire. Little wonder that costs have escalated dramatically, despite cutbacks in overall police spending. So far, eight of the 20 'early investigative advice files' have been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Each file examines a full range of offences: corporate manslaughter, manslaughter, gross negligence, fraud and health and safety breaches. Just one of those files, relating to a single company and its employees, runs to 535 pages, referencing in excess of 1,200 supporting evidential documents. Printed out, that file stands at almost 7ft high. Turning all this into criminal charges will be a monumental task. Corporate manslaughter, in particular, is notoriously difficult to prove. Some 1,600 statements taken from witnesses, both corporate and the general public, for the public inquiry into the blaze have also been evaluated. But in order to ensure any potential suspects from the companies concerned did not refuse to co-operate, they were given a legal undertaking that their answers could not be used in any future prosecution on the basis that to do so would risk self-incrimination, which is a right granted to every citizen in law. It meant detectives, gathering evidence for the criminal case, could read and review all the statements, but none of them would be admissable in court. In fact, if they did want to follow up on any of the statements, they would have to go through the whole interview process again. Both the agonisingly slow progress and the increasingly heavy burden falling on taxpayers have been compounded, many believe, by the fact that the public inquiry took priority over the police inquiry. 'Obviously, public inquiries are important but they should not be weaponised against the criminal justice system,' said Kimia. There are a number of reasons, she said, why relatives believe this is what has happened. Firstly, police had to wait for the inquiry to finish before concluding their own inquiries, which has delayed any charges being brought. 'There was injustice from day one when the inquiry was forced upon us, which delayed the criminal process,' said Hisam Choucair, 46, a former Transport for London operations officer whose family was trapped on the 22nd floor, causing six of them to die, including three young nieces. 'It has put an extra nail in the coffin and in our hearts.' Secondly, the families are convinced that lawyers for the defence will exploit the shortcomings in the public inquiry. 'They are going to stand up, even if charges are brought, and say that their clients can't get a fair trial because of all the negative publicity they have received,' added Kimia. 'So, you've literally created an opportunity for serious charges to be kicked out of court.' Then there's the matter of compensation to victims. The inquiry itself cost £173million, with more than £60million going to lawyers – something Shah Aghlani, who lost his mother and aunt in the fire, finds hard to process. 'There are legitimate next of kin, people who lost their husband or wife or child, who have been completely ignored by the compensation process,' he said. 'Yet hundreds of millions of pounds from the public purse is thrown around for lawyers, the police and for the fire brigade.' And the CPS is still years away from putting those blamed for the disaster in the dock. Arconic is one such company. The French outfit made the deadly cladding panels that the inquiry identified as the 'principal reason' the flames spread so rapidly. The firm knew the material posed a risk because it had performed badly in fire tests but 'deliberately concealed' the true extent of the danger by not informing the BBA, a private British certification company responsible for keeping the construction industry up to date. As a result, the BBA unwittingly made statements that Arconic knew were 'false and misleading'. There are more than 50 'suspects', as we now know, involved in the scandalous refurbishment of Grenfell Tower who have been interviewed under caution. But the one thing, rightly or wrongly, that unites victims and their families, including Maria Jafari who survived but lost her father Ali in the fire, is the belief that the police are no nearer delivering any kind of justice. 'We genuinely believed in the system, trusting they were designed to help us,' said Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija was among the 72 who died. 'But we have been misled down the path of false hope.' The Met stressed that 'no final decision' has been taken on the reconstruction project. It issued this statement: 'The Grenfell Tower fire is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency . . . the circumstances are highly unusual in that the criminal investigation and the public inquiry have been conducted at the same time, examining many of the same issues. Though both have examined the same tragedy, their purposes are very different and are conducted to different legal standards. 'We cannot begin to imagine the impact that waiting for the outcome of our investigation must have on those who lost loved ones, those who survived, and all those affected by the tragedy. 'However, it is critical that we take great care to get this investigation right and we have a dedicated team of 180 investigators, supported by leading experts, ensuring that we work as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of what we do. 'At the conclusion of our investigation we will pass on a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging. That is an independent consideration for the CPS.' It's hard to argue, in principle, at least, with that statement. Nevertheless, a decade will have passed by the time the investigation is completed, with no guarantee of charges. 'How much evidence is enough?' asked one member of Grenfell Next of Kin after receiving the letter informing families of the plan to build a full-scale replica of part of the high-rise block. Given the evidence already assembled in the warehouse, and the 152million documents and files the Met has amassed, not to mention the £100million spent on the investigation, it's a pertinent question.
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Police 'are planning to build replica of the Grenfell Tower', grieving families reveal
Police are planning to build a full-scale replica of part of Grenfell Tower to secure criminal convictions, it has been reported. The Metropolitan Police has told grieving families that the model, which would take more than a year to build, will help explain how the fire spread in any future trials. However, families fear they may never 'see justice' with the length of time to get to trial has left them questioning whether the inquiry is complex for the force. A spokesman for Grenfell Next of Kin, which represents the close families of about half the deceased, told the Telegraph: 'The trust is broken in the Met Police and the systems. Now they want to build a tower and on and on it goes.' In a letter leaked to the newspaper, the police chief in charge of the investigation said it was 'essential' that the replica was 'built to detailed specification and full-scale to help juries understand the case'. The replica would have to be constructed inside a warehouse with juries taken to view it. No final decision has been made on whether the reconstruction will take place, Det Supt Garry Moncrieff, the senior investigating officer, said but the force wanted to let families know of the potential replica first. Det Supt Moncreiff wrote: 'As you more than anyone understand, this investigation has taken so long primarily because it is so complex. If there are future criminal trials, then those trials will take place before juries. 'The police, CPS, and our team of experts have spent a lot of time thinking about how we could best help those jurors understand really complicated evidence and technical topics. 'Part of my role is to work with the CPS, lawyers and experts to consider how best to present complex evidence to a jury, recognising that Grenfell Tower may no longer be there at the time of a trial.' The letter also reveals that the number of investigators working on the Grenfell Tower criminal inquiry was being increased to 180. This comes at a cost of almost £24million this year alone with the final police cost is likely to exceed £100 million. It was also disclosed that the police force was over halfway through sending preliminary reports to prosecutors. The reports so far total more than a million words with 'many thousands of statements, documents and exhibits' . By the end of September 2026, the force is planning to have submitted files on 20 separate organisations or companies, and the individual suspects connected to them. If all 20 files led to charges, it is not clear how trials would take place. In a statement, Grenfell Next of Kin said: 'Despite countless words spoken and hundreds of millions of pounds spent, and the immeasurable harm inflicted on the next of kin of those who died, what we have learned is that our justice system is fundamentally flawed. This investigation has clearly overwhelmed the Met Police.' A Met Police spokesman said: 'The Grenfell Tower fire is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency. The circumstances are highly unusual in that the criminal investigation and a public inquiry have been conducted at the same time, examining many of the same issues. Though both have examined the same tragedy, their purposes are different and are conducted to different legal standards. 'We cannot begin to imagine the impact that waiting for the outcome of our investigation must have on those who lost loved ones, those who survived, and all those affected by the tragedy. 'However, it is critical that we take great care to get this investigation right, and we have a dedicated team of 180 investigators, supported by leading experts, ensuring that we work as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of what we do. 'At the conclusion of our investigation, we will pass a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging decisions. That is an independent consideration for the CPS. 'However, we have recently explained to the bereaved, survivors and residents of Grenfell Tower that we are considering building a reconstruction of some elements of the building, to help future juries understand the evidence should charges be brought. That reconstruction will not impact upon the timescale of the police investigation.' In February it was reported that the west London block will be 'carefully' taken down over the next two years. What is left of the tower has stood in place in the years since the disaster, with a covering on the building featuring a large green heart accompanied by the words 'forever in our hearts'. The 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 are pictured as follows - (top row left to right) Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, Anthony Disson, Khadija Khalloufi, Mary Mendy, Isaac Paulos, Sheila, Gloria Trevisan, Marco Gottardi, (second row left to right) Berkti Haftom, Ali Yarwar Jafari, Majorie Vital, Yahya Hashim, Hamid Kani, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, Zainab Deen, Nura Jemal, Jeremiah Deen, (third row left to right) Yasin El-Wahabi, Firdaws Hashim, Hashim Kedir, Debbie Lamprell, Ernie Vital, Sakina Afrasehabi, Denis Mur-phy, Raymond 'Moses' Bernard, Biruk Haftom, (fouth row left to right) Yaqub Hashim, Mehdi El-Wahabi, Ligaya Moore, Nur Huda El-Wahabi, Victoria King, Mo-hammed Amied Neda, Maria del Pilar Burton, Hesham Rahman, Gary Maunders, (fifth row left to right) Alexandra Atala, Vincent Chiejina, Steve Power, Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan, Hania Hassan, Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Ibrahim (silhouette), Isra Ibrahim (silhouette), (sixth row left to right) Mariem Elgwahry, Eslah Elgwahry (sil-houette), Mohamednur Tuccu, Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, Amna Mahmud Idris, Abdeslam Sebbar (silhouette) , Joseph Daniels (silhouette), Logan Gomes, (seventh row left to right) Omar Belkadi, Farah Hamdan, Malak Belkadi (sil-houette), Leena Belkadi (silhouette), Abdulaziz El-Wahabi, Faouzia El-Wahabi, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Kamru Miah, Rabeya Begum, (eighth row left to right) Mohammed Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Husna Begum, Bassem Choukair, Nadia Choucair, Mierna Choucair, Fatima Choucair, Zainab Choucair and Sirria Choucair Views on what should happen to the tower have varied, with the the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government acknowledging there had been hopes for some of it to be retained as a lasting memorial to what happened while others had reported this would be 'too painful'. The Government, while noting a feeling among some that the tower's presence is a reminder of the need for justice and accountability, also confirmed the lower floors will not be kept in place as the tower is 'carefully taken down to the ground'. Separately, the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission has been consulting on plans for a permanent memorial in the area of the tower, with recommendations including a 'sacred space', designed to be a 'peaceful place for remembering and reflecting'. It is expected a planning application for a memorial could be submitted in late 2026. The blaze, which was the worst in Britain for more than a generation, was accelerated by deadly combustible cladding and many of those who died had been told to stay in their flats. It resulted in the deaths of 72 men, women and children, including multiple generations of the same families, living in the 120-apartment tower, built in Kensington - one of London's richest areas. The fire - the worst residential blaze since the Blitz - triggered mass protests about building standards, following months of concerns from Grenfell Tower residents about safety following its refurbishment. The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published in September, concluded the disaster was the result of 'decades of failure' by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
Telegraph
07-05-2025
- Telegraph
Police to spend a year building Grenfell Tower replica
Police are planning to spend more than a year building a full-scale replica of part of Grenfell Tower to secure criminal convictions, The Telegraph can disclose. Scotland Yard has told grieving relatives that the model would be used to help explain to juries how the fire spread in any future trials. But the length of time to get to trial has left families distraught and questioning whether an inquiry this complex was ever suited to a traditional police force. Grieving relatives told The Telegraph they feared they would now never 'see justice' over the botched refurbishment of the west London high-rise tower block that led to the most devastating fire in the post-war era. A spokesman for Grenfell Next of Kin, which represents the close families of about half the deceased, said: 'The trust is broken in the Met Police and the systems. Now they want to build a tower and on and on it goes.' In a letter to victims' families and survivors leaked to The Telegraph, the police chief in charge of the investigation said it was 'essential' that any replica was 'built to detailed specification and full-scale to help juries understand the case'. The replica would be too large for any courtroom and would have to be constructed inside a warehouse, with juries taken to view it. Det Supt Garry Moncrieff, the senior investigating officer, said no final decision had been taken to go ahead with the reconstruction, but recognising the sensitivities, police wanted to let families know of their plan first. 'Complex investigation' In the letter seen by The Telegraph, Det Supt Moncrieff said that the number of investigators now working on the Grenfell Tower criminal inquiry was being increased to 180 at a cost of almost £24 million this year alone. The final police cost is likely to far exceed £100 million. The senior investigating officer also disclosed that the force was a little over halfway through sending preliminary reports to prosecutors - some eight years after the blaze in which 72 people were killed. The preliminary reports so far submitted to prosecutors total more than a million words with 'many thousands of statements, documents and exhibits' provided as backup evidence. Police are planning to submit files on 20 separate organisations or companies, and the individual suspects connected to them, by the end of September 2026 – more than nine years after the fire in June 2017. It is unclear how many trials that would entail if all 20 files led to charges. But the prospect of court cases stretching into the 2030s no longer seems fanciful. In his letter to the bereaved, survivors and residents, Det Supt Moncreiff wrote: 'As you more than anyone understand, this investigation has taken so long primarily because it is so complex. If there are future criminal trials, then those trials will take place before juries. 'The police, CPS, and our team of experts have spent a lot of time thinking about how we could best help those jurors understand really complicated evidence and technical topics. 'Part of my role is to work with the CPS, lawyers and experts to consider how best to present complex evidence to a jury, recognising that Grenfell Tower may no longer be there at the time of a trial. 'In addition to our photographs, video recordings and 3D scans, we are exploring the possibility of building a replica of a small section of the outside of Grenfell Tower. This would enable us to show juries exactly what Grenfell Tower looked like when it was built and after it was refurbished. If we do build such a replica, I consider it essential that it is built to detailed specification and full-scale to help juries understand the case.' He added: 'It is important you are told first, even though the final decision to build the replica has not yet been reached. 'To build a replica this complex, to the accuracy required for a criminal case, will take over a year. If the CPS do take decisions to charge individuals, companies and/ or organisations, then it is important that we do not create any avoidable delays.' He said that if the replica was given the go-ahead, it 'will be built in a secure and private environment, in a way that will help future juries to understand the case. It is our intention that you would have the opportunity to visit it before any court cases take place'. He said it remained 'one of the MPS's [Metropolitan Police Service's] highest priorities', adding that 'as a result, the number of investigators working on the case has now risen to 180' from 160 in an attempt to stick to his deadline of submitting a full file of evidence by the end of September next year. He said the extra staff increased police costs to £23.8 million for the financial year April 2025 to March 2026. The Home Office is contributing £9.3 million. In his letter, Det Supt Moncrieff said 12 Early Investigative Advice [EIA] files would be submitted to the CPS by the end of last month, out of 20 being planned. 'The size of each file is significant,' he said, 'The covering reports of those first 12 EIA files alone, written by the police investigators, contain over a million words and are supported by many thousands of statements, documents and exhibits. The CPS and their team of lawyers will still need to see all of the final evidence brought together in order to reach charging decisions.' Some families have lost faith in the criminal justice system. Any charges have been hugely delayed by the public inquiry, put in place by the then-prime minister, Baroness May, in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell fire, which took precedence and ran for seven years before publishing its final report in September last year. In a statement, Grenfell Next of Kin said: 'After nearly eight years, the immediate families of the deceased have encountered betrayal at every turn and a sense of exploitation regarding the loss of their loved ones, not justice. We need a more efficient justice system. 'Despite countless words spoken and hundreds of millions of pounds spent, and the immeasurable harm inflicted on the next of kin of those who died, what we have learned is that our justice system is fundamentally flawed. This investigation has clearly overwhelmed the Met Police.' Maria Jaffari, who survived the blaze but whose 82-year-old father Ali died, said: 'Nearly eight years have passed and we still have no justice. We don't know how many years it's going to take and no one knows who's going to be alive for justice. Maybe not me, maybe not my mother.' Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija Khallouffi, 52, was killed, said: 'We need accountability and justice more quickly, not a list of excuses as to why they take so long. Maybe my mother will die before having justice for her child. Maybe I will die before seeing justice.' A Met spokesman said: 'The Grenfell Tower fire is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency. The circumstances are highly unusual in that the criminal investigation and a public inquiry have been conducted at the same time, examining many of the same issues. Though both have examined the same tragedy, their purposes are different and are conducted to different legal standards. 'We cannot begin to imagine the impact that waiting for the outcome of our investigation must have on those who lost loved ones, those who survived, and all those affected by the tragedy. However, it is critical that we take great care to get this investigation right, and we have a dedicated team of 180 investigators, supported by leading experts, ensuring that we work as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of what we do. 'At the conclusion of our investigation, we will pass a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging decisions. That is an independent consideration for the CPS. 'However, we have recently explained to the bereaved, survivors and residents of Grenfell Tower that we are considering building a reconstruction of some elements of the building, to help future juries understand the evidence should charges be brought. That reconstruction will not impact upon the timescale of the police investigation.'
