Police probe into destruction of notebooks by Grenfell manager

SCOTLAND YARD has said it will seek to “assess whether a criminal offence may have been committed” after a project manager on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment admitted “binning” her notebooks despite knowing a public inquiry and police investigation were under way.

Claire Williams, who worked for Grenfell landlords the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, said she got rid of her records when she cleared her desk and left her job in May 2018, almost a year after the fire which killed 72 people.

She told the inquiry: “I looked and decided that everything that was in there was formally represented in minutes or other paperwork and it was of little value. It wasn’t a conscious, hiding anything decision, it was ‘ I’m clearing my desk’. I put them in the bin.”

She was questioned after it emerged that her former colleague, Peter Maddison, disclosed several notebooks and diaries containing “material of the utmost relevance” to the inquiry only at the end of last week.

Mr Maddison is due to give evidence today and will need to provide a “clear and convincing” explanation for his late disclosure, inquiry lawyer Richard Millett QC said on Monday.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police ( MPS) said it was aware of the evidence given on Monday and would review material provided by the inquiry to assess its relevance.

“If relevant documentation has been disposed of or withheld from the criminal investigation, the MPS will seek to establish the facts and assess whether a criminal offence may have been committed,” she said yesterday.