In a trailing inquiry into the horrid Grenfell Tower fire, Karim Mussilhy will speak to a packed conference room at a west London to introduce a film about his uncle Hesham Rahman. After, he will explain how the 57 year old diabetic was unable to leave his top-floor flat in the tower as it was being demolished by flames. The tribute will form part of the first nine days of the public inquiry, and starting next week, the inquiry is expected to run for at least a week, consequently costing taxpayers millions of pounds in legal fees alone.
It has been discovered that inquiry chairman, retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick is being paid almost £1,000 a day. Other lawyers at the hearings can charge up to £220 an hour. The amounts may not settle well with local residents and survivors of the incident that occurred 11 months ago, as they already believe the inferno was caused by cost-cutting and official indifference to those living in a social housing. Opening days of the inquiry are most likely to be charged as counsellors and paramedics on hand will help the distraught. Official inquiry documents said leading barristers will be able to charge 220 an hour, while solicitors can claim up to £175 an hour. Moore-Bick is being paid £939.74 a day, a fee set by the government’s Senior Salaries Review Body. He will be assisted by 14 barristers and nine solicitors. The inquiry will publish details of its expenditure on a regular basis on its basis,” a spokeswoman said.
Moore-Bick also invited friends and family of all 72 victims who died in the tower on the night of the fire. The tributes will take different forms, with some relations choosing to read out a statement or poem, some introducing a video, and others leaving it to legal representatives to speak. Announced by Theresa May the night after June 14, the inquiry will have two phases. The first will focus on events that night, including how the blaze was able to spread rapidly through the building after starting in a fridge-freezer on the fourth floor. Several survivors and bereaved are Muslim and will be fasting for Ramadan at the time of the first hearings. Inquiry organisers have agreed to provide prayer facilities and will place refreshments on a different floor from the hearing room.
Hearings for the first phase are scheduled to last until November, after which Moore-Bick intends to publish an interim report. The second phase, which will cover the refurbishment of the tower with allegedly combustible cladding, is not set to be completed until 2020.
