Sgt Alistair Hutchins leads the Met’s identification team and says he understands the frustration of those waiting for news on loved ones

An investigator into the Grenfell Tower blaze has shed light on the meticulous process of removing and identifying remains of the victims and ensuring the “right person gets brought back to their loved ones.”

Sgt Alistair Hutchins of the Metropolitan police, who is leading the teams of experts involved in identifying residents and their pets who died in the blaze, said his 42-strong team understands the frustration of family and friends awaiting news and pledged they would do their utmost to provide answers.

Police believe that about 80 people died in the west London tower fire on 14 June. Of the 73 people reported missing, experts have been able to positively identify 32. But so great was the 1,000C inferno that 41 are yet to be identified.

On Tuesday the consultation period for the terms of reference for the public inquiry into the disaster was extended until 28 July, to give survivors more time to have their say.

The task of identifying all the people who died in the inferno could take many months, said Hutchins, in the first detailed interview about the disaster victim identification team.



When he arrived to start the long search process the fire was still raging and waterfalls of hot water were pouring down the stairwells.

Now 12 disaster identification officers are working with 24 search-trained officers and six archaeologists to sift through the estimated 15-and-a-half tonnes of rubble on each floor of the 24-storey tower block to find victims’ remains.

They wear layers of protective clothing and respiratory equipment because of asbestos in the building as they carry out their meticulous search. The teams are divided between different floors and different flats, working for two to three hours at a time before taking a 30-minute break and going back for another three hours, repeating the pattern until the end of their shift.

As well as retrieving remains for identification, the team are also working with family liaison officers and reconciliation officers who look at the evidence “and try and say these people are from these flats, and if identification is correct”.

Their findings then go to an identification commission who work with the coroner to determine the identity of the fire victims.

The process began by removing the visible remains, which took longer than hoped because of the damage to the building and safety concerns, before police dogs were brought in to help with the search.

Investigators then started on a fingertip search of every flat, which was the longest stage of the operation, with officers on their hands and knees using small trowels and shovels and fine meshed sieves to locate “any identifiable part of the human body we can pick up”.

Relatives and survivors of the fire are frustrated about the delays in releasing official figures of the number of casualties claimed by the fire. Hutchins said: “I deeply, deeply understand the frustration the families have and the answers they want and it is only natural. All I can say is please be patient.”

He added: “We are doing our utmost best for you and we are working as hard as we can. My team cannot work any harder.

“It is hard for people to understand the process involved and I don’t think anything I can say here can clearly convey that to them but we are trying our very best to get your loved ones back.”

It was not clear how long the task would take. “We have never had a disaster of this scale in the UK so we don’t know exactly,” said Hutchins.

“An estimate of four months might increase as investigators reach more challenging areas.”

Hutchins, who has worked in victim identification for 18 years, admitted: “It’s probably the worst incident that I have ever dealt with.”

He described the challenging conditions he encountered during the first week. “Our task was incredibly difficult,” he said. “No lights so we had to use head torches. Hoses everywhere. Fire equipment with firefighters still fighting fires up higher, smoke conditions, the heat, water pouring down the stairwells – if you imagine walking through a waterfall it will give you an idea, with the waterfall being hot – those are the conditions we were working through initially.

“I have dealt with many incidents and I have never come across one harder – both emotionally and physically challenging.”

He said the team “are extremely passionate about what we do and that is fundamental.

“We believe in dignity in death, we believe in repatriating loved ones to their family members as fast as we can but also we believe in adhering to a safe system of identification.”

