Families call for manslaughter charges over fire

Those found culpable for Grenfell must face serious prison time’

- Nicholas Cecil

FAMILIES who lost loved ones in the Grenfell scandal today called for manslaughter charges against individuals blamed over the blaze.

They demanded jail terms for the culprits as deputy prime minister Angela Rayner urged the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service to bring any charges as soon as possible.

However, any court cases are only expected to start in 2027, a decade after fire ripped through Grenfell Tower in the deadliest housing scandal in British history. A scathing report revealed in detail yesterday how the high-rise block in west London was turned into a death trap by shocking failings by construction firms, architects and negligent politicians who ignored fire safety for years.

The deaths of all 72 people in the June 2017 blaze were avoidable and had been preceded by “decades of failure” by government, other authorities and the building industry, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s report concluded.