Police say dozens of people and organizations could be charged over deadly 2017 London fire

By SYLVIA HUI

LONDON (AP) — British police said Tuesday they will ask prosecutors to consider charging 57 people and 20 organizations with criminal offenses over the Grenfell Tower blaze, almost a decade after the deadliest fire in Britain’s modern history killed dozens.

The Metropolitan Police said files of evidence will be submitted to prosecutors by the end of September, with charging decisions by June 14, 2027 — the tenth anniversary of the London tragedy, which killed 72 people.

Bereaved families and survivors said justice delayed any further would be unacceptable. A damning public inquiry has found that the deaths were avoidable, and that a combination of dishonest companies, incompetent regulators and failures by government led the building to be covered in combustible external cladding.

“We have waited almost a decade for accountability,” said Grenfell United, a group representing some bereaved families. “No family should have to wait over 10 years for justice for their loved ones, if it comes at all.”

Police said the offenses being considered include corporate gross negligence manslaughter, fraud and health and safety breaches.

It said officers had gathered 165 million electronic files and looked at the role of 15,000 individuals and 700 organizations relevant to the investigation, making it the largest and most complex inquiry the force has ever carried out.

The fire at Grenfell Tower broke out in the early hours of June 14, 2017, in a fourth-floor apartment and raced up the 25-story public housing building like a lit fuse, fueled by flammable cladding panels on the exterior walls. It was the worst fire disaster in Britain since World War II, and the victims included retirees and 18 children.

The public inquiry in 2024 said companies that made the tower’s cladding used cheap and unsafe materials and engaged in “systematic dishonesty,” and that the failures were exacerbated by complacent officials who did not adequately enforce safety standards.