This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Prosecutors are considering whether to bring criminal charges against a group of men who were filmed burning an effigy of Grenfell Tower.

The Crown Prosecution Service was given a file of evidence by the Metropolitan police around 10 days ago and said a decision would be made “in due course”.

Six men were arrested and released under investigation and a seventh was interviewed under caution over the video, which drew condemnation from survivors of the tragedy, as well as the prime minister, Theresa May, after it was posted online last November.

The clip showed a cardboard model, marked Grenfell Tower, being placed over a fire in what appeared to be a back garden, while men laughed in the background.

People could be heard saying, “Help me, help me” and, “Jump out the window” while another asks, “Didn’t it start from the 10th floor, though?”

Another person can be heard saying in the video, “Stay in your flat, we are coming to get you” in an apparent reference to the stay-put policy which directed residents to remain in their flats as the fire spread across the building.

Someone else can be heard saying: “That’s what happens when they don’t pay their rent.”

Seventy-two people died as a result of the blaze at the 24-storey block, in west London, on 14 June 2017.

Experts warned of fire-spread risks two years before Grenfell Read more

A CPS spokesman said: “The police have passed evidence to the CPS regarding a video which featured a model of Grenfell Tower on fire.

“The CPS is now considering the available evidence and will make a decision in due course on whether anyone should be charged with any criminal offences.”

The six men who were arrested over the incident were a 19-year-old, a 46-year-old and a 49-year-old, all from South Norwood, a 49-year-old from Lambeth, a 55-year-old from Beckenham and another 19-year-old. They were held on suspicion of the public order offence of causing another person harassment, alarm or distress.

Bobbi Connell, 19, and his father, Clifford Smith, 49, were among the group who handed themselves in to police.

At the time, a spokesperson for the campaign group Justice4Grenfell said the clip had “caused great alarm and distress” to survivors. They added: “We are disgusted and shocked at the inhumanity and callousness of those involved in this video.”

On Twitter, Theresa May said: “To disrespect those who lost their lives at Grenfell Tower, as well as their families and loved ones, is utterly unacceptable.”