Quoted in The Brief - Times Law - 19 June 2017

Public inquiry will not uncover causes of Grenfell Tower fire, lawyers warn

Responsibility for the Grenfell Tower disaster might never be completely established, lawyers have warned, as they predict that a public inquiry will run for years and potentially be inconclusive.  There were also fears that replacing a coroner's inquest with a public inquiry would curtail the rights of victims' families by excluding them from taking part in the process. Theresa May announced that she would order a judge-led inquiry to ensure that fire was "properly investigated".  MPs initially welcomed the prime minister's statement, but lawyers with experience of public inquires pointed to past investigations into the Iraq war and the Bloody Sunday shootings, which dragged on for years before reporting.  Lawyers that have acted in incidents similar to the Grenfell Tower fire have been particularly sceptical.  "We have had these before," said Sophie Khan, who acted for some of those affected by the 2009 Lakanal House fire in south London, in which six people died. Ms Khan predicted an inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire was unlikely to achieve much for the families of the victims.  "We have had the Iraq inquiry, we have had the Northern Ireland inquiry, you don't get any results out of them," Ms Khan told the Press Association.  "I am concerned why she [Ms May] has come out so quickly to say public inquiry. Nothing will happen because the government will set the terms, the government will decide when to hold it, the government will decide what documents will be there, the government will decide when the outcome will be."  Ms Khan also warned that by holding an inquiry rather than a coroner's inquest, the families could be excluded from participating in the proceedings. "They are trying to curtail their rights," said the lawyer. "By saying they will have a public inquiry they will cut them out totally of the investigation process."  Ms Khan was adamant that holding conventional inquests would be fairer. In that process, she said, "families can participate, can cross-examine the witnesses, make submissions, put questions to the coroner, and for the coroner to lead it rather than the government."  Nicholas Griffin, QC, a barrister who has worked on several public inquiries, said that their success relied on appropriately establishing the terms of reference. If they are too focused, he said, "you may not have the depth that you need". On the other hand, "if they are too broad it may go on for much too much time and cost a lot of money. You have got to get that balance."  Griffin said that, theoretically, the inquiry could proceed in parallel with any criminal investigation by the police, but that there could be difficulties in practice. "There may be difficulties if you have an inquiry that is looking into exactly the same thing a criminal investigation is looking into because the inquiry is not going to want to do anything that is going to prejudice that criminal investigation."  https://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/projects/fac7fead96dafceaf80c1daffeae82a4.html