A man who lost six relatives in the Grenfell Tower fire says the public inquiry has given those responsible for the disaster a “get out of jail” card and taken away justice for the victims.
Hisam Choucair, 46, could only watch on in horror as fire engulfed the west London tower block on June 14, 2017, claiming 72 lives including those of his mother, his sister and her husband, and their three daughters.
Then-Prime Minister Theresa May announced a public inquiry into the disaster the following day, and on Wednesday – more than seven years later – the final report of that inquiry is due to be delivered.
Mr Choucair, a former Transport for London operations officer, believes the public inquiry has delayed justice for those responsible, and he now doubts there will ever be a criminal trial.
“It’s like an extra dagger”, he told the Telegraph. “They have impacted our justice by running a public inquiry in parallel to the criminal one.”
The first phase of the inquiry found the combustible cladding system on Grenfell Tower - installed during a refurbishment which was completed shortly before the disaster – contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.
Richard Millett KC, the lead barrister for the inquiry, has criticised building industry firms repeatedly for “buck-passing” and “indulging in a merry-go-round of blame", accusing them of avoiding taking responsibility and instead using the process to “minimise their own exposure to legal liability”.
Mr Choucair says those who turned the tower block into a death trap have been handed a “get out of jail card”, with the chance to rehearse their defences during the lengthy public inquiry hearings.
“I don’t think there will even be a trial,” he now says.
“The worst that these people will get is probably a fine and get charged with petty charges of health and safety. They’ve taken the heat out of the situation. They’ve messed up, and they’ve taken our justice away from us.”
Mr Choucair’s family were trapped on the 22nd floor of the tower, where his 60-year-old mother Sirria died alongside her daughter Nadia, 33, Nadia’s husband Bassem, 40, and their three daughters Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and Zainab, three.
They were found in the living room, with the adults having formed a circle in a desperate attempt to shield the children from the spreading fire.
The first phase of the inquiry found London Fire Brigade had stuck for too long to a “stay put” policy on the night of the fire, leaving Grenfell residents inside the building as it was engulfed in flames.
The inquiry has probed the failure of central government to tighten building regulations, to ensure cladding and other building improvements were safe, while Kensington and Chelsea council is braced for criticism over the way the Grenfell refurbishment was managed.
On the eve of the inquiry final report, it has emerged that private companies embroiled in the Grenfell scandal have been awarded public contracts worth around £250 million in the last five years.
Grenfell United, the group which represents many of the survivors and relatives of victims, has called for companies criticised in Wednesday’s report to be banned from future public contracts, a stance that is supported by the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, Joe Powell.
Karim Mussilhy, who lost her uncle, Hesham Rahman, in the fire, said: "If we see that these companies behaved fraudulently and manipulated the system, it's not unreasonable to remove them from any public contracts and frameworks in the UK."
The Metropolitan Police has been running a criminal investigation into the fire since 2017, in parallel to the Inquiry, with around 180 officers currently working on the case.
Earlier this year, the force said 19 companies or organisations and 58 individuals have been identified as suspects, with interviews under caution having taken place and thousands of statements and pieces of evidence having been collected.But it warned of an 18-month delay after publication of the final Inquiry report, and news of criminal charges not expected until close to the end of 2026.
