Grenfell Tower fire: Relatives say it is 'time for justice' after police confirm 71 victims dead
Doubts linger over the official death toll as residents call for greater transparency
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Your support makes all the difference.Relatives of those killed in the Grenfell Tower fire say it is “time for justice” after police announced their final death toll for the disaster.
After months of gruelling forensic work inside the block, investigations have identified 71 men, women and children, including a stillborn baby, who died as a result of the blaze.
But some survivors still fear the death toll is higher, amid calls for increased transparency in the ongoing public inquiry and criminal investigation.
Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle died in the fire, said the “number may be right and it may be wrong, but let’s be thankful that it’s less than what we thought it was”.
“Now we are starting on the long journey for justice to make sure that our friends and families didn’t die for nothing,” he told The Independent.
“We need the culture [that led to the disaster] to be brought to light and make sure people are held to account for what they’ve done.”
Mr Mussilhy’s uncle, 57-year-old Hesham Rahman, spoke to him on the phone as the blaze spread through Grenfell Tower in the early hours of 14 June and has been confirmed among the victims.
He said coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox and her team had done “an amazing job” to support bereaved families but that residents felt there had been a lack of empathy from the Government.
Many are waiting to receive status as core participants in the public inquiry being led by retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, and want to be more involved in the process.
Mr Mussilhy said a lack of consultation made relatives it feel “almost as if the Government want to control it and just want us to be involved when they want,” adding: “We want to be able to look at the evidence, cross examine it.
“We know we won’t have an influence on the result but we want to be a part of it.”
A stillborn baby, Logan Gomes, has been recorded among the victims as a separate criminal investigation continues into responsibility for the blaze.
The coroner confirmed the identities of the last two victims on Wednesday and police said they believe all those who died in the disaster have now been recovered and named.
But Judy Bolton, director for Justice for Grenfell campaign, said many members of the local community still believe the death toll is higher and have requested lists of anyone reported missing but unaccounted for.
“A lot of families are still in limbo… people aren’t able to grieve or have closure,” she told The Independent.
“The way authorities handled this really hasn’t been sensitive to the community and it hasn’t done anything to allay their fears of ‘is this the truth?’.”
Politicians were among those fearing the death toll to be far higher in the aftermath of the fire, which spread rapidly from a fourth floor flat up combustible cladding.
Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, was heavily criticised for claiming the number of victims “will be in triple figures” during tensions between local residents, authorities and the emergency services.
Ms Bolton said some people still lacked trust with the Met’s latest figure, which was revised down from an initial estimate of 80, and that the announcement had sparked an “emotional day”.
“We walk past that building every day – for weeks after, when the train went past a big dust cloud went up and we were covered in the ashes of our loved ones,” she added.
“Many people didn’t receive remains… the general consensus is that we believe there are more victims and they are keeping us in the dark.”
Commander Stuart Cundy said Scotland Yard’s search and identification operation was undertaken in a way that survivors and bereaved families “could have complete confidence in”.
“My thoughts, and those of all my colleagues in the Met Police, are with all those who lost their loved ones, those who survived, the local community and all those who live with this tragedy every day,” he said.
“Our criminal investigation is continuing, and we are determined to do all we can to find the answers that so many people so desperately want.”
Officers have conducted a full fingertip search, examining 15.5 tonnes of debris on each floor supported by forensic anthropologists, archaeologists and odontologists.
Searches inside the tower are not expected to conclude until early December but the Metropolitan Police said it was “highly unlikely” any unidentified victims remain.
Ms Bolton said residents hope more information will be revealed by the public inquiry, which is looking at events on the night of the fire, how and why the block came to be wrapped in flammable cladding and insulation.
It will also examine the response by Kensington and Chelsea Council and central government, while procedural hearings will take place on 11 and 12 December.
Police are continuing a separate criminal investigation into the fire, which may consider individual as well as corporate manslaughter charges.
“We would want this to be done and dusted as quickly as possible, but people are more concerned with the truth and are willing for it to take longer so no stone is left unturned,” Ms Bolton said.
Mr Mussilhy also said he wanted police to take as much time as they need for the criminal investigation, adding: “We don’t want to rush them and we hope they follow all the evidence, wherever it leads.”
Gordon Fütter, a member of the community, said that residents were still “nowhere near closure” five months after the disaster.
He told The Independent that some survivors were still living in hotels after declining officers of temporary accommodation, while residents evacuated from blocked surrounding Grenfell over safety fears were being “pressured” to move back into their flats despite ongoing concerns.
“People are constantly living with this uncertainty and it’s hard for them to recover,” Mr Fütter said.
Police concluded that 293 people were inside the block when the fire broke out, with some residents away from home and some Muslim occupants who were observing Ramadan awake and able to alert their neighbours.
Detectives used CCTV and police body-worn video to identify everyone captured on film fleeing Grenfell Tower after the fire started just before 1am, showing 223 escaped and survived.
Police handled thousands of calls from people who believed they knew someone trapped in the tower, resulting in an initial list of 400 reported missing.
Some people were reported several times – 46 in one case – and others were reported under different names or varied spellings that were separately investigated.
There were also a number of false claims, and eight people have been charged or are under investigation for fraud in connection with the disaster.
Earlier this month, serial conman Anh Nhu Nguyen admitted two counts of fraud after claiming his wife and son died in the blaze in an effort to pocket £12,500 intended to help victims.
There were additional concerns that some people inside the tower were not recorded as residents, either because of informal tenancies or a lack of documentation, sparking the Government to announce an immigration amnesty to encourage people to come forward.