Lakanal House judge begins summing up
The coroner at the inquest into the deaths of six people who died in a tower block blaze will start summing up today.
Judge Frances Kirkham will remind the jury in the Lakanal House inquest of the evidence that has been heard since proceedings started on 14 January this year.
Three women and three children died when fire rapidly spread through the 14-storey block in Camberwell on 3 July 2009.
During the first week jurors heard evidence about the harrowing final calls of people in the block to the emergency services and their families.
They also heard from the bereaved families who spoke about the day and their feelings of loss and grief since the tragedy.
Much of the evidence has been about the panels fitted to the outside of the block during a 2006/07 refurbishment carried out by landlord Southwark Council.
A fire expert David Crowder explained in the sixth week that fire travelled up outside the building from flat 65, where it started, to flat 79 above, where 31-year old Catherine Hickman died.
He said that the panels had burnt through so quickly they were likely to have allowed fire to enter Ms Hickman’s flat within five minutes. Fire-resistant asbestos panels were replaced during the refurbishment, the inquest heard.
The jury has heard that neither the contractor Apollo nor Southwark Council sought building control approval on any for the 2006/07 refurbishment, which included decent homes work. Building control approval is a legal requirement for such work.
But last week Brian Martin, a building regulations expert at the Communities and Local Government department, said that building regulations were unlikely to have required the panels on the outside of the block to be fire resistant.
Peter Holland, chief fire and rescue adviser for the CLG, also suggested that the six who died should have been told to get out of the block. He explained if fire brigade control did not know if a ‘stay put’ policy applied to a block their default advice if fire and smoke entered someone’s properties should be to tell them to ‘get out and stay out’. The Lakanal House victims were told to stay in their properties.
Along with Ms Hickman, Helen Udoaka, 34, with her 20-day-old baby Michelle Udoaka, and Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her two children, three-year-old Felipe and six-year-old Thais, died in the fire.
If the jury makes a decision before Wednesday next week the coroner will take the verdicts on Thursday, the following day. Judge Kirkham can then, under rule 43 of the Coroners Rules, make a report suggesting health and safety improvements which can lead to a change in the law.
See our Safe as Houses campaign page for full coverage of the inquest
