A banner with the slogan ‘We need Justice for Grenfell Tower’ has appeared prominently in many media outlets during the past few days. The shell of the Grenfell Tower stands as a reminder of a horrific disaster which was no movie. It now appears so obvious that if you clad buildings with a combustible material it is likely to pose a danger to the inhabitants of the building by overriding careful application of fire regulations to manage a fire within an internal confined area. At least 79 people had to die before society started to take notice of an issue which had been staring us in the face for a number of years.
It is now clear that evidence gathered as a result of previous fires was not acted upon and that fire regulations, whether followed or not, have not kept pace with changes in construction methods. Firefighters did what they could in impossible circumstances but whether authorities behaved properly either before or after the fire is quite another question.
Just like the Hillsborough disaster where there had been several near misses at football matches in previous years, it took the death of 96 people to change the way we did football.
The Grenfell Tower disaster is ringing bells with all of us who were involved in the work on Hillsborough. In 2009 there was a fire in Lakanal House in Camberwell where 6 people died where a fire spread rapidly in circumstances which seems to have been a precursor to the much more serous Grenfell situation. On that occasion the findings of the Coroner, were ignored.
A full public enquiry has been promised by the Prime Minister. Hillsborough had the report of Mr Justice Taylor which quickly and concisely put the blame where it ultimately lay, inadequate policing of the football match. Unfortunately we then had the first inquest where the South Yorkshire Coroner allowed the Police and public bodies to obfuscate the truth with a cloud of misinformation leading to an erroneous verdict. The evidence gathered by Taylor was quietly ignored.
Have the shortcomings in the first Hillsborough inquest been learned? Quite frankly it is too early to say. The second Hillsborough inquest was properly funded and families were properly represented. At last the verdict provided justice for the 96 and allowed society to learn the lessons. Are we sure the present inquest system is up to the task of dealing with Grenfell Tower? Bishop James Jones has been asked by the Ministry of Justice to make recommendations for reform of this ancient system of enquiry.
In the Queens Speech, Theresa May announced a New Public Advocate Role. Whilst we have no idea how this role will operate, is this the first acknowledgement by the Government that major reform is required? Whatever this reform means, the public advocacy role ought to emphasise the need for proper representation of families at inquests. Not only are inquests harrowing for families, but society will be repaid many times over if the process truly identifies shortcomings by public authorities which lead to avoidable deaths of citizens. Our experience of Hillsborough shows that if ‘Justice for Grenfell Tower’ is to be a reality, then families of the victims will need representation by expert lawyers of a kind that the current inadequate legal aid system will not provide.