Grenfell death toll may be lower than 80
Police say manslaughter charges may be made over the tower fire
The death toll in London’s Grenfell Tower fire may be revised down from 80 and people may face manslaughter charges over the blaze, police said yesterday.
Metropolitan police commander Stuart Cundy said the final figure might “come down a little”, but that would not be known until police completed a thorough search of the charred building.
Mr Cundy said that so far 60 victims of the June 14 blaze had been formally identified.
As for possible charges, the force has previously said it has “reasonable grounds” to suspect that local authorities may have committed corporate manslaughter.
Police are also investigating eight cases of fraud involving people who claimed to have relatives or property in the building.
Detective chief inspector Matt Bonner said the investigation would deal with “whatever offenses come to light”.
“The kind of stuff I would envisage we may come across would involve offences perhaps of fraud, misconduct offences, health and safety breaches, breaches of fire-safety regulations and, of course, offences of manslaughter, whether that be on a corporate or an individual level,” Mr Bonner said.
The blaze began in a refrigerator in a flat at the tower before racing through the 24-storey building.
A public inquiry has begun to find out how a small fire was able to spread so quickly and become Britain’s deadliest blaze in decades.
Many residents accuse officials in Kensington and Chelsea, one of London’s richest boroughs, of ignoring their safety concerns because the public-housing block was home to a largely immigrant and working-class population.
One focus in the investigation is the role of combustible aluminium cladding installed during a refurbishment to the 1970s tower block.
Emergency safety checks have uncovered scores of other buildings across Britain with similar cladding.
The disaster prompted an outpouring of emotion, with donations of money and clothes from around Britain, but there have also been a small number of people trying to profit from the tragedy.
Detective superintendent Fiona McCormack, who is leading search-and-recovery operations, said police were investigating one confirmed theft of “a considerable amount” of money from one of the less damaged apartments at the bottom of the tower, and three other suspected thefts of residents’ possessions.
These came to light when former residents were let into their flats to pick up treasured items.
Extra alarms, cameras and lights have been installed in the tower and procedures to access the site have been strengthened.