The Metropolitan Police has submitted its Grenfell Tower police files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), marking the formal end of a nearly nine-year criminal investigation into the fire that killed 72 people in June 2017. The submission, confirmed on 30 September, covers 20 investigation files and 14 overarching evidence files, and puts charging decisions for 54 individuals and 20 organisations in the hands of the CPS.
Potential charges identified by the Met span corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences, and misconduct in public office. The CPS has committed to making those charging decisions before the tenth anniversary of the fire in June 2027.
Grenfell Tower police files: the scale of a nine-year inquiry
The investigation involved 220 officers who examined the role of 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations, reviewed 165 million electronic files and took 14,400 witness statements. The Met’s own summary reports exceed four million words across 12,600 pages, referencing more than 45,000 documents, images and exhibits.
Deputy assistant commissioner Kevin Southworth described the submission as ‘a milestone moment in the police investigation into this devastating tragedy, which took the lives of 72 people.’ He acknowledged the time taken, stating: ‘We appreciate, of course, it has taken nine years to get to this point. As we have said before, this is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency, the scale is truly enormous.’ Southworth added that the length of the process had been necessary ‘to ensure our investigation is meticulous and presents the very best possible evidence to the CPS for charging decisions.’
The physical and forensic dimensions of the inquiry were considerable. According to the BBC, detectives commissioned their own laboratory tests and examined thousands of pieces of debris recovered from the building, including the fridge that malfunctioned in a fourth-floor flat, from where flames spread rapidly to the rest of the tower.
Trial timeline: no proceedings expected before 2029
Even with the CPS now in receipt of the Grenfell Tower police files, the prospect of a criminal trial remains some years away. According to The Standard, trials are not expected to begin before 2029, which would place any proceedings 12 years after the blaze. The CPS has not indicated a trial start date, and it remains unclear when proceedings would follow any charging decisions made before June 2027.
The sheer complexity of the case shapes that timeline. Among the considerations in any future prosecution is how evidence will be communicated to a jury. Last year it was reported that the Met and the CPS were considering using a full-scale replica of part of Grenfell Tower to explain the technical issues likely to arise in criminal trials relating to the fire.
The criminal process runs parallel to the public inquiry process, which concluded separately. The six-year public inquiry into the tragedy published its final conclusions in September 2024.
The CPS now carries the weight of deciding whether and how to prosecute a case of this scale. Its commitment to charging decisions ahead of the tenth anniversary in June 2027 sets a hard deadline for one of the most consequential sets of prosecutorial decisions in recent UK legal history.
