Tears of joy as survivors reunited with personal possessions

More than 200,000 personal items have been saved from the burnt remains of Grenfell Tower as part of a painstaking recovery operation.

Michael Lockwood, who was drafted in from Harrow Council to head the management of the site, said survivors cried tears of joy after being told they could return to the tower’s lower floors to salvage what was left of their possessions.

Kenyon International Emergency Services, a company involved in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena terror attack earlier this year, has been removing property elsewhere in the tower on the behalf of former residents who cannot yet return.

Mr Lockwood said: “I’ve spent a lot of time with survivors. One of the things they said to me was, ‘We want to go back into the tower. There are some very sentimental and precious items for us, whether it’s jewellery or photographs, and we only want to collect those’.

“We had 40 of the survivors, we stood in front of them and said, ‘You can go back into the building’, and every one of them was in tears of joy.

“And they said to me, ‘This is the first time we’ve ever been listened to’.”

More than 50 people – survivors and accompanying friends and relatives – have returned to the tower to recover possessions over the past six weeks.

Mr Lockwood added: “Most came out with big smiles on their faces, with a box of sentimental items they’d managed to get. You can’t underestimate that moment for them. Going into your home, seeing it for the last time, having that closure.”