I’ve been made a villain because Grenfell blaze began in my f lat

THE taxi driver who lived in the flat where the Grenfell Tower fire started begged the public inquiry to exonerate him yesterday.

Behailu Kebede, 45, said he suffered stress, trauma and feelings of guilt from the ‘racist assumption’ that he was responsible for the 72 deaths.

In the aftermath of the disaster, Scotland Yard chiefs were so concerned for his safety they offered him and his family witness protection.

On the night of the blaze, Mr Kebede was awoken by the sound of his fire alarm.

He noticed smoke coming from the back of his Hotpoint fridge freezer and dialled 999. Mr Kebede, who lived in flat 16 on the fourth floor, had to ring several times before he was connected to an operator. At the same time he banged on all his neighbours’ doors on the fourth floor, shouting ‘fire, fire, fire’.

Once everyone on his floor was aware of the danger, he turned off the electricity in his flat and left the tower.

Speaking on his behalf, Rajiv Menon QC told the inquiry: ‘He left the flat barefoot, without his flat or car keys. All he had on his person were the clothes he was wearing and the mobile phone with which he was calling 999.’

Claims that Mr Kebede, who is originally from Ethiopia, managed to pack a suitcase before fleeing were rejected by his lawyer yesterday.

Once outside, he watched in horror as the fire took hold of the external cladding and spread up the side of the tower.

Mr Menon said: ‘He desperately wanted to do more to help his neighbours and friends, but what could he practicably do?’

Later that day, he was interviewed Appeal: Behailu Kebede twice by police as a ‘significant witness’ and not treated as a suspect.

‘Mr Kebede hopes that having heard all the evidence, the inquiry will make a clear and unequivocal statement that Mr Kebede is absolutely blameless for the outbreak of the fire, its spread and its fatal consequences,’ Mr Menon said.

‘This is vitally important. If the inquiry does not explicitly exonerate Mr Kebede, all these sleazy accusations and hurtful innuendo, all the racist assumptions and ignorance that currently prevail will continue unabated.

‘The inquiry needs to set the record straight. The inquiry needs to thank Mr Kebede for his prompt effort that he made on the night to contact the fire brigade, raise the alarm and warn his neighbours.

‘He had the most frightening, traumatic and shocking experience of his life. He didn’t hesitate.’

The inquiry also heard that politicians and businessmen met to discuss removing con- struction safety rules to increase profits while the tower was still burning.

The Red Tape Initiative ‘had the arrogance’ to discuss relaxing the already lax rules around the use of cladding on buildings, it was said.

Flammable cladding has been blamed for the rapid spread of the fire, which took just 12 minutes to reach the top of the west London block last June.

Michael Mansfield QC, for the victims, said: ‘While Grenfell Tower was still slow-burning, an exclusive Government-backed group of high-profile grandees from the world of politics and business had arranged a meeting of experts to discuss the subject of cladding.

‘Their objectives were clear – to dismantle regulations that were considered a hindrance to profit-making. In this atmosphere safety regulation was sneered at as red tape folly and dismissed as expensive and burdensome. Put simply, the prevailing orthodoxy was one of profit over safety – effectively profit over people.

‘It is incredible that on that day there were a group of people central to our society who had the arrogance and had the feeling of immunity and impunity that they could gather together to actually undermine safety.’

Firms and authorities involved in the £9.2million Grenfell refurbishment, including Kensington and Chelsea council, were accused of seeking to duck responsibility for key decisions that turned the tower into a ‘death trap’.

Leslie Thomas QC, for the victims, said the refurbishment had transformed the building from ‘an ugly, safe council block to a death trap that looked like a pretty, private block’. He added: ‘Any attempt to mislead, distract, rewrite history or blame others in an attempt to conceal the truth will be met with unwavering resistance.’

The inquiry continues.

‘Accusations and innuendo’