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News > United Kingdom

UK Grenfell Contractors Want Guarantees in Order to Testify

  • The fire that killed 72 people was Britain’s worst incident in a residential building since World War Two.

    The fire that killed 72 people was Britain’s worst incident in a residential building since World War Two. | Photo: Reuters

Published 3 February 2020
Opinion

Contractors and officials involved in the building’s condition made Monday a request for guarantees, demanding not to be prosecuted over anything they could tell the inquiry.

Bereaved families and survivors of London’s 2017 Grenfell Tower fire accused Monday the firms responsible for using flammable materials to refurbish the building of trying to derail a public inquiry into the disaster.

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The inquiry has established that a flammable cladding system fitted to external walls during a recent renovation caused the unstoppable spread of the fire.

After saying they would cooperate to uncover the truth, contractors and officials involved in the building’s refurbishment made Monday a last-minute request for guarantees, demanding not to be prosecuted over anything they could tell the inquiry.

“The timing of this application appears disingenuous and an attempt at sabotage,” Stephanie Barwise, a lawyer representing some of the victims, said Monday, describing her clients as outraged.

Many in the Grenfell community have urged for those responsible for the state of the building to face criminal prosecution.

The inquiry chairman, judge Martin Moore-Bick, now faces a difficult choice. 

If he consents to the contractors’ request, the Grenfell community may turn against him. If he rejects it, chances are that key witnesses will refuse to answer questions, citing their right not to self-incriminate.

After hearing submissions from all the lawyers, Moore-Bick postponed the hearing indefinitely to think about what to do.

Certain survivors have said that neglect of their ethnically mixed, largely low-income community had played a part in the tragedy and that warnings from residents that there were fire hazards in the tower had been ignored.

The fire that killed 72 people was Britain’s worst incident in a residential building since World War Two.

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