'Blood on their hands' Families react to inquiry's scathing verdict

With tears in their eyes and pain etched on their faces, the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire demanded "nothing less" than manslaughter charges against those responsible for the disaster.

- Emine Sinmaz , Robert Booth

The families said they had been "robbed of justice" and feared "perpetrators literally getting away with murder" as they faced a wait of at least three years to find out if anyone would be convicted for the failings that led to the inferno which killed 72 people.

At the culmination of the sevenyear public inquiry, Tiago Alves, who survived the disaster, accused the multimillion-dollar companies whose products spread the fire of having "blood on their hands" while the Grenfell United group condemned the corporations as "little better than crooks and killers".

At an emotional press conference in west London that opened with one minute's silence, the bereaved sat in front of photographs of their loved ones and a set of kitchen scales weighing the seven-volume, 1,700 page inquiry report that apportions blame for the tragedy.

The group said that at the end of the inquiry, all they had been left with was "10kg of words on pages".

The families, from the Grenfell Next of Kin group, blamed the calling of the inquiry in the immediate aftermath of the disaster for the delays in bringing prosecutions. The Met police, which has been investigating the disaster, said the police investigation is independent of the public inquiry and cannot use its findings.