Hearing all survivors could help save lives, inquiry told

HEARING the voices of all Grenfell Tower survivors and bereaved families could help save lives in the future, an inquiry has heard.

The judge-led probe into the disaster which killed 71 is holding two days of hearings, featuring representations from lawyers speaking on behalf of those affected.

Richard Millett, counsel to the inquiry, said evidence from those who escaped the blaze or lost loved ones could help ensure “something like this never happens again”.

He told a hearing at the Holborn Bar in central London: “Giving that evidence is also one aspect of the way that each of them individually can be heard and perhaps find some measure of closure.”

The June 14 inferno, he said, was an “utterly appalling event and the experiences of it are stamped on the memories” of those who lived there or lost loved ones. But the concerns which have dogged the public inquiry since its inception were flagged by several lawyers representing victims and survivors.

Michael Mansfield QC, representing 24 different families, urged Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the judge leading the process, to ask the Prime Minister to install a panel from a diverse background to sit alongside him.

He said there was a “distinct feeling” that most people affected were being excluded. It is expected that many will give evidence at public hearings next year.

Mr Millett said: “It is of great importance to the inquiry that each individual voice of those most affected by the fire is heard.

“This is a shared trauma, a community devastated, but each of them has their own story to tell.