Grenfell Tower families reveal sorrow over the tragedy which changed them forever during emotional seven-day inquiry
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For seven days the families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire have gathered in an unremarkable conference suite.
In that room, just 20 minutes from the burnt remains of the building which changed their lives for ever, they have taken turns to share stories of heartbreak, loss and, most overwhelmingly, love.
Some relatives have screamed their demands for justice and others have wept as they shared stories of lives cut short in the inferno.
The final day of commemoration saw father of victim Farah Hamdan, 31, weeping as he recalled how his daughter was found clutching his six-month-old granddaughter as she tried to flee.
Distraught grandad Hamdan El Alami paid tribute to Farah’s husband Omar Belkadi, 31 and their children Malak, eight, and Leena, six months.
They all died as they tried to escape their flat on the blazing building’s 20th floor.
Mum-of-two Farah was found clutching Leena in her arms between the 19th and 20th floors.
Hamdan broke down at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel hearing as he described seeing the family for the last time: “Death has separated us and torn me into pieces.”
The inquiry also heard the story of a grandmother who begged her son to stay away from the blaze that killed her and her sister.
Just hours before her death Sakineh Afrasehabi, 65, had cooked dinner for her family.
Her sister Fatemeh was staying, during a visit from their native Iran.
As the night wound to a close, Sakineh walked her daughter Nazanin Aghlani and her grandson to the lift.
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She asked to kiss him one last time before he left.
Hours later, as the blaze ripped through the building, she rang her son and told him to stay away and stay safe.
“Even though she was being surrounded by fire and smoke, she told me not to come,” Sharok said. “That’s the meaning of love.”
Nazanin described how the family had told the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea about her “vulnerable” mother.
Blaming “corporate negligence” for her mother’ death she explained that Sakineh was partially sighted and disabled.
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She said: “She couldn’t go down 18 floors of stairs on a good day, let alone in a fire. Her human right to escape was denied even before the fire happened.”
The inquiry heard how her sister Fatemeh’s husband was refused a visa to attend the inquiry and pay tribute to his wife.
The hearings were suspended for an hour after an elderly relative of the ­Choucair family collapsed during a film tribute to the six family members who died.
The inquiry also heard of former Buckingham Palace electrician Raymond ‘Moses’ Bernard, a 64-year-old father of three, who sheltered six people in his top-floor flat as they waited for a rescue effort that never came.
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“He did not deserve to die by suffocation, cyanide poisoning and ultimately be burned,” his daughter Bernadette said.
“Where there is no justice there is no peace. I will never forget, I will never forgive.”
The brother of pharmacist Khadija Khalloufi had a statement read out because visa delays meant he couldn’t attend.
The morning after the fire, Karim Khalloufi called his sister repeatedly, “but to no avail”.
A friend in the UK told him Ms Khaloufi’s husband had been found, which raised his hopes his sister had survived.
The next day, Karim was told her body had been found.
He went on: “You cannot imagine the helplessness and pain when you are far away and no-one is telling you what happened and why.”
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The inquiry had heard the haunting last words of Mohamed Amied Neda, 57, in a final call before falling to his death.
Mohamed, who lived on the top floor, said: “Goodbye, we are leaving this world now. I hope I haven’t disappointed you.”
On the opening day tributes were paid to stillborn baby Logan Gomes. Logan’s mother Andreia escaped but lost her son.
Describing the moment he held his stillborn Logan dad Marco said: “He looked just like he was sleeping. We felt our hearts break.”
Next week the inquiry moves to nearby Holborn Bars. The homemade video tributes and stories of the victims will be replaced by highly paid lawyers debating procedure.
But the families will pray that it will be this first session that lingers in the mind of panel chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
They hope their stories and the faces of their loved ones he will see when he drafts his report.