Heart disease and high blood pressure have been listed as additional causes of death for Grenfell Tower victims, casting fear over the success of manslaughter charges, The Telegraph can reveal.
Family members have expressed outrage after it emerged that the official inquiry included the pre-existing medical conditions of some who perished as a cause of death in the final report.
On Thursday, they criticised the decision as “insulting”, saying the wording could be taken to suggest some died because of their health, rather than the entirely avoidable fire.
A leading expert on disaster management described Sir Martin-Moore Bick’s wording as “unusual”, which could be “problematic” for prosecutions.
Many of the victims and their families have already criticised the length of the inquiry process for delaying the police’s investigation, with no charging decisions expected before late 2026 at the earliest.
Amid the phase 2 inquiry report, published on Wednesday, Sir Martin gives an account for each victim, including a brief narrative description of how they met their death and a standalone cause of death.
Save for a small minority who died after jumping from the tower, all have “inhalation of asphyxiant gases” listed as their cause of death.
However, in the case of three victims, an additional cause of death is given.
Kamru Miah, a 79-year-old tandoori chef who died on the 17th floor of the tower, also has “ischaemic heart disease” listed as a cause of death. This is despite the fact that “heavy soot deposits” were found in his airways and heat damage in his throat.
Steven Power, a 63-year-old retired driver who lived in the tower with his two children and three dogs, had “coronary artery atheroma” recorded as a cause of death, despite dying after being trapped in his 15th-floor flat.
The report said that “although not a direct cause of death”, the condition “rendered Steven Power more vulnerable to the effects of carbon monoxide”.
Ali Yawar Jafari, an 81-year-old retired jeweller originally from Afghanistan who died in the lobby of the 10th floor of the tower, had “coronary and hypertensive heart disease” listed as a cause of death.
Along with dozens of other victims, Mr Jafari has a “vulnerability” section in the final report, discussing his pre-existing medical conditions, in his case diabetes and heart disease.
A spokesman for Grenfell Next of Kin, a victims’ group, said: “The contents of volume 6 is worrying and we want to get some more advice because it would be really insulting to suggest that our loved ones died in the tower, in an inferno, not because of the fire, the smoke, the toxic gases, choking to death and 2000 degree temperature, but because they had a pre-existing medical condition like a heart condition or diabetes?”
Maria Jafari, the daughter of Mr Jafari, said: “Yes my father had a heart condition and they told me he had a heart attack.
“But if they are trying to tell me that he died because of his heart attack not because of the fire, I will fight it. How dare they?
“He died because he couldn’t breathe. So are they going to suggest that if a disabled person died because they couldn’t run, then it’s their own fault?
“Are they suggesting that anyone who had an illness and lived in the tower and had any health problems, and they died in the tower, it was because of their health problems not because of the situation and the fire?
“I just don’t understand what they are trying to do to us. It’s like we are going back to the beginning again.”
Prof Lucy Easthope, an expert on disaster recovery at the University of Durham, who advised in the early stages of the investigation, said the decision to include such information needed justification.
“It is an unusual move to include other co-morbidities in causes of death and highly relevant to both future criminal cases and civil litigation,” she said.
She suggested: “We haven’t gone to a criminal trial yet and this could throw up barriers to that process.”
“At this stage the report should read factually like a homicide investigation, but the way it is worded muddies the picture.”
Karim Khalloufi, whose sister Khadija was among the 72 who died, said: “The death certificates should record “unlawful killing”, because that is what it is, unlawful.
“The Hillsborough families fought for years and we don’t want to fight for years.”
The inquiry does not formally replace the role of the coroner, who has the power to record verdicts such as ‘unlawful killing’.
However, Sir Martin expressed his hope this week that his factual findings would enable the coroner to issue verdicts without having to reinvestigate the tragedy.
It is understood that the ‘vulnerability’ sections in Volume 6 of the report are relevant to other areas of the inquiry’s findings.
