Grenfell Tower bosses could face manslaughter charges
Police are considering manslaughter charges over the Grenfell Tower fire, as it emerged most of those whose flats burned done could still be homeless for Christmas.
The first day of the public inquiry into the disaster heard Scotland Yard is also looking at possible misconduct in public office and breaches of fire safety regulations.
Members of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the tower's Tenant Management Organisation are reportedly being interviewed over their role in the blaze.
The possible charges emerged as the local council claimed it will buy homes for the estimated 100 families still without a place to live following the blaze.
Charges of corporate manslaughter could be brought against those behind the Grenfell fire
Sir Martin Moore-Bick (left) and Richard Millett, counsel to the inquiry (standing, centre), started the first day of the Grenfell Tower inquiry in central London today
Currently only 42 households from the tower have moved into permanent new homes and 118 remain in emergency accommodation, including 103 in hotels.
The judge-led probe into the disaster which killed 71 people is holding two days of procedural hearings to set out how the inquiry will take place.
Jeremy Johnson, representing the Met Police, said that outside of major counter-terror operations, the police inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy was 'unprecedented'.
More than 420 people and groups have been given 'core participant status', allowing them to access evidence and suggest questions.
A total of 270,000 documents are expected to be submitted to the inquiry to assist its work, it was heard.
Police, meanwhile, have now acquired 31million documents and seized 2,500 exhibits, Mr Johnson said.
Sir Martin, the retired judge leading the inquiry, hopes to deliver an interim report next autumn
The tower where 71 people died still hangs over the surrounding west London housing estate
Council under pressure to find homes for survivors of the blaze Kensington council is under pressure to find new properties for Grenfell Tower survivors as more than 100 families remained homeless six months on. Elizabeth Campbell, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said 300 homes will have been bought by Christmas. She acknowledged there was a 'lack of trust' in the council among survivors and it was 'perfectly understandable' that some had refused initial offers of accommodation. It recently emerged that more than 100 households that escaped the blaze were facing Christmas in hotels. Only 42 families from the tower have moved in to permanent new homes since the fire on June 14.
Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the retired Court of Appeal judge leading the process, hopes to deliver an interim report into the fire's causes and the emergency response by next autumn, it was heard.
Richard Millett, counsel to the inquiry, told a hearing in central London: 'As to the Grenfell Tower survivors, residents and bereaved, it is of great importance to the inquiry that each individual voice of those most affected by the fire is heard.
'This is a shared trauma, a community devastated, but each of them has their own story to tell.
'Their evidence will be crucial to the inquiry's understanding of what happened inside and around Grenfell Tower before the fire, during the fire and after the fire - their evidence can and will help us save the lives of others.'
Mr Millett continued: 'Giving that evidence is also one aspect of the way that each of them individually can be heard and perhaps find some measure of closure.
He added that the fire at Grenfell Tower was an 'utterly appalling event and the experiences of it are stamped on the memories' of those who lived there or lost loved ones.