Scotland Yard will ‘assess whether crime has been committed’ after project manager on Grenfell Tower refurbishment admitted to ‘binning’ her notebooks a YEAR after blaze
- Claire Williams said she got rid of her records when she left her job in May 2018
- She claims there was ‘nothing underhand about it’ and she was just ‘clearing’
- Williams insists she didn’t think there was anything of value in the notebooks
Scotland Yard is assessing whether a project manager on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment committed a crime after she admitted ‘binning’ her notebooks despite knowing a public inquiry and police investigation were under way.
Claire Williams, who worked for Grenfell landlords the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), said she got rid of her records when she cleared her desk and left her job in May 2018, almost a year after the fire which killed 72 people.
She told the inquiry: ‘There was nothing underhand about it. I was clearing my desk, I looked and decided that everything that was in there was formally represented in minutes or other paperwork and it was of little value.
Claire Williams, who worked for Grenfell landlords the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), said she got rid of her records when she cleared her desk and left her job in May 2018
‘It wasn’t a conscious, hiding anything decision, it was ”I’m clearing my desk”. I put them in the bin.’
She was questioned after it emerged that her former colleague, Peter Maddison, disclosed several notebooks and diaries containing ‘material of the utmost relevance’ to the inquiry only at the end of last week.
He is due to give evidence on Wednesday and will need to provide a ‘clear and convincing’ explanation for his late disclosure, inquiry lawyer Richard Millett QC said on Monday.
Chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick asked: ‘You binned them even though you knew, by that time, there was already on foot a public inquiry?’ Ms Williams responded by saying she believed the records she had would have been ‘documented elsewhere’
Phase 2 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is examining the causes of the events, including how Grenfell Tower came to be in a condition which allowed the fire to spread in the way identified by Phase 1
The tragedy claimed 72 lives (pictured) on June 14, 2017
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said in a statement: ‘We are aware of the evidence heard in the public inquiry on Monday October 19 in relation to books in possession of witnesses to the inquiry.
‘Once the public inquiry has provided material to the MPS, we will review the material to assess its relevance.
‘If relevant documentation has been disposed of or withheld from the criminal investigation, the MPS will seek to establish the facts and assess whether a criminal offence may have been committed.’
The inquiry was continuing to hear evidence from Ms Williams on Tuesday.