The Metropolitan Police admit in a letter that funding cuts mean the criminal inquiry will probably take until September 2026, not March that year as planned
Police have infuriated families of Grenfell fire victims by saying the inquiry into the disaster will miss its deadline.
The Metropolitan Police admit in a letter that funding cuts mean the criminal inquiry will probably take until September 2026, not March that year as planned.
The setback delays inquests into deaths as well as prosecutions. Campaign group Grenfell Next of Kin said the letter, from Det Supt Garry Moncrieff, “heaped injustice upon injustice”.
A spokesman added: “The families are furious and flabbergasted by the way they have been played by the entire system.
“We are the ones with an empty chair, or several empty chairs, at our tables.”
Det Supt Moncrieff’s letter to relatives of the 72 people killed by the June 2017 fire says funding cuts had reduced the 180 officers working on the case to 160.
That meant any charging decisions would be pushed from late 2026 into 2027, it adds. A public inquiry found cladding on the building in Kensington, West London, was the main reason the blaze spread out of control.
The government said: “We share the community’s determination to get to the truth of what happened and for those responsible to be held to account.”
