Met hands Grenfell fire investigation file to CPS

Key Takeaways

• These include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in pu
• Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and the Department of Housing have both been referred to the CPS following the fire which killed 72 peo
• The CPS said charging decisions would be made before the 10th anniversary of the disaster, which is on 14 June 2027
• RBKC said it had been informed by the Met that it had referred the council to the CPS for three offences: corporate manslaughter, section 3 of Health

Grenfell Tower is currently in the process of being dismantled

ByAmy ClarkeLondonTom Symonds and Ayshea Buksh

Updated 37 minutes ago

The Metropolitan Police has submitted its final investigation file into the Grenfell Tower fire to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), seeking charges against 54 individuals and 20 companies.

These include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in public office.

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and the Department of Housing have both been referred to the CPS following the fire which killed 72 people at the tower block in North Kensington, west London.

The CPS said charging decisions would be made before the 10th anniversary of the disaster, which is on 14 June 2027.

RBKC said it had been informed by the Met that it had referred the council to the CPS for three offences: corporate manslaughter, section 3 of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and acting contrary to the Regulatory Reform (fire safety) Order 2005.

The council said in a statement on Wednesday: "They have told us that the CPS will now independently review the evidence, and they will decide whether to charge the council of those offences."

Elizabeth Campbell, leader of the council, said their "commitment to candour, openness, and accountability has not changed". The tower was 24 storeys high, containing 20 residential floors

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has also confirmed that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which has responsibility for building safety, had been under investigation since 2023 in relation to Grenfell.

She said a file concerning a potential breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 had now been sent to the CPS.

Rayner said that "in order to protect the integrity of the investigation" the department had not previously discussed its details publicly, "including its own status as a subject of it".

She added: "The government failed in its fundamental duty to keep the residents of Grenfell Tower safe.

"Lives were lost as a consequence of profound failures within the building safety system. On behalf of the British state, I am sorry."

A public inquiry report released in 2024 found the fire was avoidable and set out how a chain of failures across government and the private sector led to the disaster.

The Met's investigation, Operation Northleigh, has run in parallel with the public inquiry into the disaster, but detectives waited for the inquiry to publish its findings before completing their work.

Some bereaved families and survivors have said this delayed justice, but it allowed police to consider the inquiry's often highly technical conclusions.

Grenfell United, a bereaved families and survivors group, said "no family should have to fight this hard, for this long, for justice".

"It has taken more than nine years to get here. Nine years, and no one has been held criminally accountable for the deaths of our 72 loved ones.

"We want those responsible to face justice. If people are found guilty of crimes that cost our loved ones their lives, we want to see them behind bars.

"Only then will people see that there are real consequences for what happened at Grenfell." Survivor Emma O'Connor said justice for her would mean the removal of dangerous cladding on all buildings

Emma O'Connor, a survivor who escaped from the 20th floor, said: "As we approach the 10-year anniversary, there'll be nothing left, just memories, holding our loved ones in our hearts forever and remembering the good times."

Responding to the latest announcement, she said: "I'm happy for my neighbours and feel that criminal charges will be justice for them and their families, but to me it's definitely not.

"My justice looks like removing cladding," she said.

O'Connor urged the CPS to make sure the cases were "watertight and that we don't have to do retrials". Work to dismantle the tower started in September last year

The charred remains of Grenfell Tower were a crime scene for 14 months, during which forensic teams scoured the building for evidence of why the fire spread so quickly.

Detectives commissioned their own laboratory tests and examined thousands of pieces of debris from the fire, including the fridge which malfunctioned in a fourth-floor flat, from where the flames spread rapidly to the rest of the building.

The evidence has been kept in a warehouse at a secret location, which the BBC visited last year.

Police have investigated the actions of 15,000 people across 700 organisations or companies and taken 14,700 statements.

The investigation has also examined 45,000 documents, images and exhibits.

The files sent to the CPS include examples of this evidence, as well as reports containing more than two million words. Evidence from the fire is stored at a warehouse in a secret location

Deputy assistant commissioner Kevin Southworth said a team of 220 investigators had worked hard on the case but he appreciates "it has taken nine years to get to this point".

"As we have said before, this is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency – the scale is truly enormous.

"While we know this has had a significant impact on those waiting for answers, it has necessarily taken this long to ensure our investigation is meticulous and presents the very best possible evidence to the CPS for charging decisions," he added.

The CPS will decide whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction, as well as considering whether bringing charges is in the public interest.

In anticipation of possible criminal proceedings, the Met has said it is building a £2m replica of a section of the tower, which is being dismantled, to help future jurors understand its layout.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said it marked "an important step".

"We recognise that the journey to this point has been long and difficult.

"Charging decisions will be made independently by CPS prosecutors following a thorough and careful review of all the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police Service," he added.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Met hands Grenfell fire investigation fi?

The force is seeking charges against 54 individuals and 20 companies over the 2017 tower block fire that killed 72 people.