The eagerly awaited first report on the West London tower fire was delayed from Easter (Picture: PA)

Survivors and relatives of the 72 people killed in the Grenfell Tower fire have reportedly been told to sign non-disclosure agreements before seeing findings of an investigation into the disaster.

Today they are today due to receive an embargoed copy of the report on the first phase of the probe before its publication on Wednesday.

The document was due to be released in Easter but was delayed because piecing together what happened had ‘proved to be a far more complex and time-consuming task’ than anticipated.

Justice for Grenfell campaign group member Moyra Samuels said: ‘They can’t discuss the contents of the report with the media.




‘I can’t see how they’re going to prosecute them but you never know.’

Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick has been leading the public inquiry (Picture: PA)

The gagging order follows concerns raised by the mother of murdered London teenager Stephen Lawrence, Doreen Lawrence, who said residents are not being listened to.

The Labour Life Peer Dorreen Lawrene said she had ‘no doubt’ racism was involved in the catastrophe.

She added: ‘Had that been a block full of white people in there, they would have done everything to get them out as fast as possible and make sure that they do what they needed to do.’

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said they ‘absolutely refute’ that there was any aspect of racism in their response to the dire.

The first report will include a detailed account of what happened on the night of June 14, 2017.

London Fire Brigade are expected to be criticised for upholding a ‘stay put’ policy for nearly two hours (Picture: PA)

It is expected to criticise the or a variety of failures of the LFB, particularly its advice to residents to ‘stay put’ for almost two hours while the flames spread, the Telegraph reports.

The fire service have previously defended the move and said they faced ‘multiple dilemmas’ over what advice to give and ‘assessments of risk which are not of a straightforward or binary nature’.

LFB commissioner Danny Cotton said last year she ‘would not change anything’ about the way firefighters handled the incident, which she likened to ‘a space shuttle landing in front of the Shard and 9/11.’

But leading fire engineer Dr Barbara Lane told the inquiry the policy has ‘substantially failed’ by 1.26am – 32 minutes after the first call to the fire service.

Residents were still told to stay where they were until the strategy was eventually ditched at 2.47am.

Sir Martin will meet family member and survivors and give them a summary of the report before its release (Picture: PA)

London fire commissioner Dany Cotton previously said she would ‘not change anything’ about LFB’s response (Picture: PA)

Before collecting their copies of the report this afternoon, bereaved family members, survivors and residents have been invited to meet Grenfell Tower Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Brick.

He will set out to them the inquiry’s approach to the report and the recommendations.

The second phase of the inquiry, expected to get underway at the beginning of 2020, will look at the use of flammable cladding for the tower block’s refurbishment.

There are not likely to be any criminal charges made until at least a year later.

A LFB spokesperson said: ‘We will always remember the 72 lives lost, the bereaved, survivors and local community.



‘Those who lost loved ones have questions and they deserve to know exactly what happened on the night of the fire.

‘Since the fire we have reviewed our response on the night, acting on recommendations from that review and we’ve made changes to protect the public we are here to serve.’

The service is also calling on the Government to undertake urgent research on ‘buildings that fail’, which leaves the ‘stay put’ policy no longer viable.

Explaining the importance of part two of the probe, LFB added: ‘It is important that we understand the full detail of this report and any recommendations it may make, and it would be premature to comment on specific issues any further at this stage.’

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