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Homelessness case judge to lead Grenfell inquiry
The judge who made a controversial ruling allowing homeless families to be moved out of London will lead the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower blaze, Number 10 has confirmed.
Retired judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick will lead the public inquiry into the fire at the 24-storey building in west London, in which at least 80 people are known to have died.
Sir Martin was the judge who ruled on single mother Titina Nzolameso’s Court of Appeal case in November 2014.
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He rejected her appeal against Westminster City Council’s decision to rehouse her nearly 50 miles away from the borough in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes.
In a case which was overturned by the Supreme Court just months later, he decided it was not necessary for Westminster to explain in detail what other accommodation was available to the family locally.
He ruled the borough was allowed to take “a broad range of factors” into account, including the “pressures” on the council, in deciding what housing was available.
Jayesh Kunwardia of Hodge Jones & Allen, which represented Ms Nzolameso, said at the time that the decision “sets a terrible precedent for local authorities to engage in social cleansing of the poor on a mass scale”.
The terms of the inquiry have not yet been laid out.
Sir Martin’s appointment is expected to be confirmed later today.
