Grenfell Tower fire: Tenant management company faces corporate manslaughter charge

The Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation is facing a corporate manslaughter charge over the Grenfell Tower fire, The Standard can reveal.Detectives investigating the Grenfell fire have passed files of evidence relating to 20 companies and 54 individuals to prosecutorsPAIn a statement, a spokesman for KCTMO said: “Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) can confirm that it is one of the organisations referred by the Metropolitan Police to the Crown Prosecution Service in connection with the Grenfell Tower investigation. “We remain acutely conscious of the terrible impact of the Grenfell Tower fire on the bereaved, survivors, their relatives and the wider Grenfell community, and continue to offer our deepest condolences and sympathies to all those affected. “We will continue to co-operate with the authorities as the process continues.” The referral by Scotland Yard to the CPS in relation to the KCTMO is understood to relate to three categories of potential charges including corporate manslaughter.The other two are an alleged offence under section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, following an alleged breach of section 3 of that Act; and an offence or offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.KCTMO managed the Royal Borough of Kensington’s housing stock, including Grenfell Tower. Its duties included repairs, maintenance and fire safety. It now exists solely as a residuary body to support and be accountable in relation to legal proceedings and other matters arising from the Grenfell Tower tragedy.It handed back responsibility for day-to-day housing and related support services to the council at the end of February 2018.The Grenfell Tower Memorial Wall near the site of the Grenfell Tower in west LondonPAThe local authority stressed that the CPS would now independently review the evidence to decide whether to bring charges.Read MoreCabinet minister Angela Rayner has said that a file relating to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has also been referred to the CPS in relation to a potential breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.The CPS has pledged to making the charging decisions before the 10th anniversary of the fire in June 2027.However, trials are not expected to start before 2029, 12 years after the blaze.An aerial picture shows the remains of the residential tower block Grenfell TowerAFP/GettyJoe Delaney, of the Justice4Grenfell campaign, told The Standard: "Once again we have had a re-announcement of an announcement that we should have had nine years ago.“Justice delayed is justice denied."The public inquiry into the deadly blaze found that it had been preceded by “decades of failure” by governments and the building industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.