A recently retired court of appeal judge who specialised in commercial law has been appointed to head the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire. Sir Martin Moore-Bick, 70, only left the bench last December.



Among his more controversial cases was a decision allowing Westminster council to rehouse a tenant 50 miles away in Milton Keynes. It was later overturned by the supreme court.



The former senior judge has in the past been praised by the justice minister, Dominic Raab, for applying “long-awaited common sense” to limit human rights law in a case where he deported a foreign-born criminal whose young children lived in Britain. But Moore-Bick, who is widely respected within the legal profession, will have to gain the confidence of the north Kensington community where the tragedy occurred.



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Educated at the Skinners’ school in Tunbridge Wells and at Christ’s College, Cambridge, he became a barrister in 1969 and spent more than 20 years as a judge of the commercial court and the court of appeal. There were reports that there had been a delay in announcing his appointment because of concerns in Downing Street over his record on the bench.



In one 2014 case, Moore-Bick said Westminster council could rehouse Titina Nzolameso, a single mother with five children, more than 50 miles away in Milton Keynes. He ruled that it was not necessary for Westminster to explain in detail what other accommodation was available and that it could take “a broad range of factors” into account, including the pressures on the council, in deciding what housing was available.



In April 2015, the supreme court reversed his ruling, pointing out that the council had not asked “any questions aimed at assessing how practicable it would be for the family to move out of the area”.



In the deportation case, Moore-Bick had to assess whether a foreign-born man who tied up and robbed two women in their flat could rely on article 8 of the European convention on human rights, which guarantees a right to family life, to avoid being removed from the UK. The man’s young children lived in the UK. Moore-Bick ruled that the public interest in seeing the Chinese man returned to his own country outweighed the human rights of the criminal’s children.



His decision in 2014 was praised by Raab, who said: “This is a welcome ruling, some long-awaited common sense on the application of article 8. But one swallow doesn’t make a summer – we need to see the whole approach to deportation reoriented to put public protection first.”



The prime minister, Theresa May, has insisted that Grenfell Tower residents will be given a say over the direction of the investigation. Moore-Bick’s appointment is expected to be officially announced on Thursday.

Survivors and the families of those who died in the devastating blaze will be given state funding for legal representation at the inquiry. The prime minister said a full judge-led inquiry was needed to ensure that the events at the 24-storey block were “properly investigated”.



In his commercial work and at the appeal court, Moore-Bick dealt with some housing cases although his main area of expertise was to do with contracts, insurance and banking.

