Southwark escapes corporate manslaughter charges over tower block fire

The London Borough of Southwark will not face corporate manslaughter charges over a fatal fire in one of its tower blocks, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

In a statement, the CPS said that there was “no realistic prospect of conviction for an offence of manslaughter by gross negligence or corporate manslaughter against any company or the London Borough of Southwark.".

Six people were killed when a fire broke out in a flat at Lakanal House in Camberwell in 2009, which spread to other apartments in the high rise block.

The council has been criticised for not undertaking a risk assessment of the building, despite the finding of a report by Southwark Building Design Service into the safety of Southwark's tower blocks nine years earlier which considered all five buildings on the Sceaux Gardens estate, including Lakanal House, as a “medium fire risk”.

Lakanal House had a "risk of localised fire spread between wall panelled sections" the report, published during an investigation by the BBC in 2009, said.

However, Rene Barclay, principal crown advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "I considered whether the council's alleged failure prior to the outbreak of the fire to undertake a risk assessment provided a sufficient basis to bring a charge. I concluded there was insufficient evidence to satisfy a jury that the council's conduct at a senior management level amounted to a gross breach of duty causing any of the deaths."

The CPS' decision not to bring prosecutions in the case means that inquests into the deaths can now begin.