Police Seek to Charge up to 57 People and 20 Firms Over Grenfell Tower Fire

Up to 57 people may be prosecuted for the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed the lives of 72 people in 2017, the Metropolitan police has said. 

Lead investigator Garry Moncrieff said his team of 20 detectives has uncovered “strong evidence” of potential wrongdoing, and plans to submit evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by the end of September. 

Gross negligence, manslaughter, fraud and misconduct in public office are some of the offences potentially under consideration.

If the CPS does pursue charges, it is unlikely to happen before June 2027, some 10 years after the 24-storey social housing block in west London went up in flames. Trials are unlikely to begin before 2029.

A spokesperson for campaign group Grenfell United said: “For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration. We meet it with caution, grief and determination. We have waited almost a decade for accountability.”

A public inquiry that concluded in 2024 found responsibility for the disaster lay with the government and multi-million pound companies, whose defective products caused flames to spread rapidly. 

In particular, the inquiry pointed to the “systematic dishonesty” of the companies that produced cladding, as well as David Cameron’s coalition government, which cut back on regulations to free up British enterprise.