Grenfell Tower survivor requires these accountable to face jail

A grieving father whose son was stillborn as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire believes the tragedy ‘wasn’t just an accident’ and has urged authorities to ensure those responsible are ‘put behind bars’.

Survivor Marcio Gomes, who revealed he still suffers with PTSD and has since separated from his wife because of the emotional toll of the disaster on their relationship, spoke out in the wake of a damning report published on Wednesday.

A 1,600-page report from Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who chaired an inquiry into the disaster, found that Grenfell was turned into a deathtrap which claimed 72 lives due to ‘serious deficiencies’ in building standards, ‘dishonest’ manufacturers and a local authority with an ‘indifference’ to fire safety.

Significantly, the report found that the deaths that resulted were ‘avoidable’.

Among them was the unborn son of Mr Gomes and his wife Andreia, who lived with their two daughters on the 21st floor of the fateful tower block, when the inferno began on 24 June, 2017.

Recounting the night his life changed forever, Mr Gomes said that he woke at around 1.30am and saw smoke before realising the situation was potentially deadly. 

He proceeded to call 999 on three occasions, but like many other families was told to stay put despite telling the call handler his wife was seven months pregnant.

When he called for the fourth time, thick flames and black smoke were entering his flat and he had no choice but to evacuate.

Despite not being able to see or breathe through the smoke, he made his way down a seemlessly never-ending set of stairs from the 21st floor, with his wife, two daughters and two neighbours by his side. 

He led his wife, two daughters and two neighbours down the stairs and at times found bodies beneath his feet.

At the inquiry, Marcio emotionally recalled that moment: ‘We couldn’t see anything – we were just climbing over bodies. 

‘I started thinking that the bodies I stepped over were those of my wife and daughters.’ 

Andreia similarly told the inquiry it was ‘the worst experience of my entire life.’

In a written statement that was read during the inquiry, she said: ‘I thought that we were all going to die and that is the worst feeling to have had to have experienced.’ 

Against all odds, the family were able to make it out of the tower, and rushed to King’s College hospital, where the heavily pregnant Andreia was placed in a coma to try to save Logan’s life.

But tragically, Logan died from the result of the effects of the smoke and toxic fumes from the fire.

Mr Gomes watched as his son was delivered by Caesarean section while Andreia was still in an induced coma, something he has described previously as an ‘indescribable pain.’ 

Speaking to ITV News last night about his experience, Marcio said that the impact of the fire continues and he often thinks about his son.

‘Every day that passes you cant help thinking he would have been seven, he would have been eight, every year he is growing with me.’

He added: ‘Without a doubt his death was avoidable, this wasn’t just an accident.

‘I want to see people behind bars. That won’t bring my son back, but it’s a step forward to what justice may look like.’

In the years since the fire and despite his own sense of grief, Mr Gomes has become an advocate for fellow survivors and is vocal about not only obtaining justice for those who died, but also implementing change.

Speaking to Sky News he said: ‘There have been mornings I have woken up and thought there is no point…but [I do this] for the 72 people who aren’t here.’

He called the inquiry report ‘a huge milestone’, while acknowledging any criminal proceedings could yet be years in the making. 

‘What is important right now is all the recommendations are implemented by the government and the authorities to ensure Grenfell number two does not happen.’

As for the revelation in the report that several corporates and firms knew about the risks of the cladding material prior to the fire, Mr Gomes was clear in his feeling.

‘It’s like someone punched me in the stomach,’ he said adding there were many involved in the failures that led to the disaster.

His daughter Luana, 12 at the time of the fire and now 19, has also spoken out about the emotional impact the tragedy has had on her.

Speaking about the other young people who did not survive, she told Sky News:  ‘You sort of feel a bit guilty. 

‘I feel guilty that I am here doing all this stuff when obviously they didn’t get a chance to live and do the stuff they wanted to do at such a young age.’

She recalls the moment the family escaped down the stairwell, but then passed out. Her next memory was of being in an ambulance, with medics cutting her clothes and ‘sticking needles in me’. 

When she next regained consciousness, she was in hospital, having been in a coma for a month.   

‘It’s changed me as a person, mentally and physically,’ Luana revealed, adding that she was unable to sleep or focus on school and suffered depression and anxiety in the aftermath.

Other bereaved families and survivors said today the final inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower fire shows they were ‘failed by calculated dishonesty and greed’ and ‘human life was never a priority’.

Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were ‘little better than crooks and killers’.

They criticised previous governments who they said ‘aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation’ and called on some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.

In response, Sir Keir said the Government would write to all companies found by the inquiry to be part of the ‘horrific failings’ at Grenfell ‘as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts’. 

He also said those affected by the disaster were ‘let down very badly before, during and in the aftermath of the tragedy’, as he offered them an apology on behalf of the British state. 

On the day the report was released:

 Sir Martin, who today completed his 1,600-page inquiry report into failures in the build-up to the fire, said: ‘None of those involved in the design of the external wall or choice of materials acted in accordance with the standards of a reasonably competent person in their position.’

He said the fatal choice of combustible materials for the cladding of Grenfell Tower resulted ‘from a series of errors caused by the incompetence of the organisations and individuals involved in the refurbishment’.

But he also pointed the finger at industry body the British Board of Agrement (BBA), who he accused of incompetence for failing to carry out proper checks on building products used in the refurbishment before issuing compliance certificates.

Sir Martin accused successive governments of an at-times ‘complacent and defensive’ attitude to safety, while the response to the tragedy from Theresa May’s own administration and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea local council in the immediate aftermath was ‘muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal’.

Sir Martin said both the council – which owned the tower – and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) which ran it showed a ‘persistent indifference to fire safety’, particularly that of its many vulnerable residents.

But he reserved some of his most powerful criticism for those responsible for firms involved in the refurbishment.

The 77-year-old former Court of Appeal judge also took aim at ‘dishonest’ manufacturers, as well as local and central government, the construction industry and associated organisations.

Sir Martin said the ‘simple truth’ was that the 72 deaths were ‘all avoidable’.

He praised the local community for their response, and criticised the state for failing to properly make use of them in the aftermath of the tragedy in June 2017. It was the worst residential blaze in Britain since the Second World War.

In an address following publication of his report, Sir Martin said: ‘The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants.’

The report’s findings are expected to ramp up pressure on police and prosecutors to make speedier progress on getting people before the courts – something many bereaved and survivors have said must happen for justice to be served.

In May, the Metropolitan Police said their investigators need until the end of 2025 to finalise their inquiry, and prosecutors will then need a year to decide whether charges can be brought.

It means victims and their families will likely have waited at least a decade to bring those responsible to account in a UK court.

Bereaved and survivors have described that wait as ‘unbearable’.

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime and counter terrorism division said: ‘Our team of specialist prosecutors will then carefully review the file but do not expect to be in a position to make any charging decisions until the end of 2026.’