My husband loved the Olympic golden girl, not the real me
IDOL CHAT I WAS A STATUS SYMBOL Swimming star Rebecca tells how her marriage failed Grenfell investigation ‘could take years’
THE investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire could last years but the final death toll will remain at around 80, police revealed yesterday.
Scotland Yard said the probe is their largest ever outside of terrorism and involves 60 companies, millions of documents and hundreds of witnesses.
When fire ripped through the tower last month, there were around 350 people inside, of whom 255 survived.
Another 14 were out at the time, leaving the number of dead at around 80.
It is the first time Scotland Yard have given the number of residents in the west London block when the fire broke out.
One call from a desperate resident to an emergency operator OLYMPIC swimmer Rebecca Adlington has told of her anguish after she married a man who “idolised” her career and status.
TV pundit Rebecca, 28, split from husband Harry Needs in March last year after just 18 months of marriage.
Reflecting on her ex and whether he was with her for who she was, she said: “He was younger than me, he saw Beijing and really idolised me.
“We were dating for a long time and Harry had to step back and say, ‘I have to figure out whether I like you or whether I like you because of everything you’ve achieved.’
“He wanted to make sure he was with me for the right reasons.”
Rebecca did not clarify whether Harry was satisfied that he had changed from a fan and was in love with her as well as her star status.
But when they split last year, they claimed in a statement that they “remained close friends”.
Rebecca once admitted that motherhood put a lot of strain on her marriage and that she and Needs would argue regularly.
She said giving birth was harder than setting a world record, adding: “Harry and I have had plenty of arguments... We’re knackered.
“A lot of mums have six or eight months off – I had two months and had to go back to work.”
In an interview with Radio Times to promote new radio series On the Sporting Couch, Rebecca also insisted people shouldn’t comment on celebrity divorces. She said: “It baffles me that someone thinks they can comment on someone’s life they know nothing about.”
Harry wanted to make sure he was with me for the right reasons
REBECCA ADLINGTON
lasted 55 minutes. Commander Stuart Cundy said manslaughter charges remain possible, adding: “You can’t listen to the families and listen to the 999 calls and not want to hold people to account for a fire that should not have happened.”
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Bonner said officers have contacted 60 companies and organisations and seized over 20 terabytes of CCTV — the equivalent to 5000 feature length films.
Four terabytes of data has been obtained – two million pages of A4 if printed out – and interviews have been conducted with more than 140 witnesses from the fire.
DCI Bonner said: “The scale of the witness numbers means it will be months just to do the interviews.”