72 KILLED BY: DISHONESTY INDIFFERENCE COMPLACENCY

Damning report exposes 'path to disaster that turned Grenfell Tower into death trap

- Sam Lister and Paul Jeeves

GREED, dishonesty and complacency put Grenfell Tower on a "path to disaster" that ended with the tragic loss of 72 lives, a damning report declared yesterday.

After a seven-year inquiry found decades of wrongdoing, failures and negligence prior to the inferno, Sir Keir Starmer apologised on behalf of the state.

The Prime Minister admitted that victims and families were "let down very badly" before, during and after the London tower block blaze in 2017.

Despite yesterday's hard-hitting findings, bereaved relatives still face a long fight for justice, since any criminal prosecutions are unlikely to start for at least 18 months.

Yvette Williams, from campaign group Justice4Grenfell, said: "The wheels of justice turn very slowly, especially when communities like ours are the victims and the perpetrators are the wealthy and powerful.

"We cannot understand why the police need another 18 months when they have all the forensic evidence they need from the tower and should have been gathering evidence from the inquiry along the way."

The painstaking investigation by retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick into the horror on June 14, 2017 declared that every one of the 72 deaths could have been prevented.