The criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire has reached a “milestone moment”, according to a senior Metropolitan Police officer, almost a decade after the west London tragedy in which 72 people died.
Prosecutors have been asked by the Met to consider charges including manslaughter, fraud and misconduct in public office against 20 companies and organisations, and 54 individuals. Among those bodies referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, although the government department, unlike the local council, is immune from prosecution.
“We appreciate, of course, it has taken nine years to get to this point,” said the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Kevin Southworth. “As we have said before, this is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency – the scale is truly enormous.”
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The CPS has said that “charging decisions would be made before the 10th anniversary of the disaster, which is on 14 June 2027”, said the BBC.
These are the key events in that nine-year wait for justice.
14 June 2017: the fire
Just before 1am on 14 June, fire broke out in the kitchen of a fourth-floor flat at the 23-storey tower block in north Kensington, west London. The fire rapidly spread and “ended up being the deadliest domestic blaze since the Second World War”, said Sky News.
15 June 2017
The Prime Minister Theresa May orders a full public inquiry, with then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn telling grieving relatives and displaced families “the truth has got to come out and it will.”
29 June 2017
Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick is chosen to lead the inquiry.
30 June 2017
The leader of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, Nicholas Paget-Brown, resigns over “perceived failings” by the council related to fire.
19 September 2017
The Met announces it is expanding its investigation to “consider corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter”.
21 May 2018
The inquiry begins, with seven days of commemoration hearings to the dead, starting with the youngest, stillborn Logan Gomes.
September 2018
The Government bans the use of combustible cladding on all new residential buildings above 18 metres, including schools and hospitals.
October 2019
The report into Phase 1 is published. It concludes that the tower’s cladding did not comply with building regulations and was the “principal” reason for the rapid and “profoundly shocking” spread of the blaze.
27 January 2022
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry enters Phase 2, looking at issues around cladding, the tower’s management and emergency response.
4 September 2024
The final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report is published. It concludes that all 72 deaths were “avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years, and in a number of different ways, by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants”.
7 February 2025
The government confirms that Grenfell Tower will be dismantled after engineers advised the tower is “significantly damaged”. The process is expected to take around two years, with materials from the site made available for inclusion in a memorial.
30 September 2026
The Met submits its final investigation file into the Grenfell Tower fire to the CPS, seeking charges against 54 individuals and 20 companies.
