UK police ask prosecutors to consider manslaughter charges over Grenfell fire


FILE PHOTO: An official works in the burnt out remains of the Grenfell Tower residential building in London, Britain, September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - ⁠British police said on Wednesday they had asked ⁠prosecutors to consider charges including corporate manslaughter and ‌gross negligence manslaughter against dozens of people over the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people.

The Metropolitan Police said they ​had submitted their full case ⁠files to the Crown ⁠Prosecution Service for charging decisions, which the CPS had committed ⁠to ‌making before the 10th anniversary of the disaster in June 2027.

The force said it ⁠had also asked the CPS to consider ​health and ‌safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct ⁠in public ​office as part of its investigation into Britain's deadliest fire since World War Two.

Case files relating to 54 people and ⁠20 companies and organisations have been ​sent, after investigators examined the role of more than 15,000 people and 700 organisations.

Police said they had gathered ⁠165 million electronic files, taken 14,700 statements and collected more than 27,000 exhibits during what they described as one of the most complex criminal investigations ever ​undertaken in Britain.

A 2024 public ⁠inquiry concluded the disaster was the result of decades ​of failures by government, regulators and ‌companies involved in Grenfell Tower's ​refurbishment.

(Reporting by Sarah Young, writing by Sam Tabahriti, Editing by William James and Sam Tobin)

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