By James Simons-
The retired judge who appointed to head the Grenfell Tower inquiry told angry residents yesterday that he knows what it means to be impartial.
In a three hour meeting with residents, the former judge vowed to find ”the facts as I see them from the evidence “.
However, surviving residents of the fire that wiped out 80 people were angry and completely dissatisfied with the Judge’s stance. Joe Delaney, of the Grenfell Action Group, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people he lacked the ”common touch to relate to the community” that people were looking for. ”He didn’t inspire confidence in anyone. I would rather see a criminal barrister or someone with proven track record of holding people to account”.
SCEPTICISM
Mr Delaney also told BBC Radio 5 live that there was ”scepticism” about his speech. ”You could hear people sighing and tutting”.
“It got a bit loud before the end. The man couldn’t even control the crowd and hold them. I have heard public speakers who can shut up a stadium full of thousands of people. This man couldn’t hold a room with 200 or so people.” Surviving residents and members of the Greenfell Tower Group will not be satisfied unless arrests are made because they believe the system is trying to cover up those powerful people responsible.
Their perception was aptly expressed by Tottenhan MP, David Lammy, when he this week stated that Martin Moore Bick looks like someone from the establishment who people will find difficult to trust.
PERVASIVE
That pervasive view will not be easily abandoned especially after Bick express the likelihood that his inquiry will be narrow and focus on the cause of the fire and how it spread, hinting that all those reckless individuals who did nothing about it will escape justice. Bick has since failed to reverse those words, although a source close to him subsequently suggested he would look into the background of ignored complaints from residents. With so many lives lost and livelihoods destroyed, the least expected by surviving residents of the fire and the friends and families of loved ones who died, is for manslaughter charges to be brought against certain individuals.
Too many lives have been lost through the very reckless conduct of many individuals, and people naturally expect to see a fitting punishment for it, not listen to a toned down or compromised inquiry by a man who has lost nobody in the fire and doesn’t know the feeling of sorrow the way bereaved families do.
ABILITY
Sir Martin told those at the meeting: “I can’t do more than assure you that I know what it is to be impartial.
“I’ve been a judge for 20 years, and I give you my word that I will look into this matter to the very best of my ability and find the facts as I see them from the evidence.
“That’s my job, that’s my training, and that’s what I intend to do. Now if I can’t satisfy you because you have some preconception about me as a person that’s up to you.” That’s up to you?
Those words are enough to show that he is out of common touch with the surviving residents. People do not just have a preconception about Sir Martin, they are rightfully judging him based on his own words used. Mr Bick says he will look at the facts as he sees them, but there are many facts to this matter. The fact is that many lives were lost, many individuals could have avoided those loss of lives , but contributed to the loss of lives by failing to act, and it is believed that Sir Martin intends to get them off the hook. Those are clear facts that don’t go down well for the retired judge with so-called 20 years experience and training. It’s just not good enough.