Grenfell video: six released as police search home

SIX men have been released after being questioned by police investigating an “offensive” video showing a model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire.

Scotland Yard said the men, who were all arrested under the Public Order Act, were freed under investigation.

The sixth man, who is 19, was arrested earlier yesterday after attending a south London police station, while the five men from south and south-east London had handed themselves in on Monday night.

They are a 19-year-old, a 46-year-old and a 49-year-old, all from South Norwood, a 49-year-old, from Lambeth, and a 55-year-old, from Beckenham.

They were arrested on suspicion of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress under section 4a of the Public Order Act. Officers were seen searching a south London address in relation to the incident earlier yesterday.

Three officers from the Metropolitan Police carried evidence bags into the terrace property in South Norwood.

Aerial images of the property appeared to show charred patches of grass along with an England flag lying across the rear of the garden.

A similar flag was visible behind the Grenfell model in the video. The property is registered to 49-year-old Clifford Smith, according to public records.

After leaving the house, officers searched bins under the front window and knocked on neighbours’ doors.

The footage, which emerged on Monday, shows a large flammable model marked “Grenfell Tower”, complete with paper figures at the windows, being set on fire.

In the video clip posted online, raucous laughter can be heard off camera as the model is set alight.

The chairman of the public inquiry into the fire, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, called the video “offensive” as he opened yesterday’s hearing. He said: “It must be shocking and distressing to all those involved... whether as bereaved, survivors or indeed members of the wider community.”