Detectives eye corporate killing charge
COUNCIL and housing chiefs face questioning as police probing the Grenfell Tower inferno try to build a corporate manslaughter case.
Detectives believe there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect Kensington and Chelsea Council and the local tenant management organisation of the offence.
In a letter to residents, the Met Police said senior figures in both bodies faced being interviewed.
The letter said: “We have seized a huge amount of material and taken a large number of witness statements.
“After an initial assessment of that information, the officer leading the investigation has today notified Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that each organisation may have committed the offence of corporate manslaughter.”
At least 80 people were killed when the blaze ripped through the 24-storey block of flats in west London on June 14.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that work will start next month to cover the charred shell of the tower.
Michael Lockwood, who is in charge of the recovery operation, said the building would be coated in a protective wrap to help the forensic investigation into the disaster.