More than 30 police officers involved in Grenfell Tower inferno rescue attempt ... trends now
More than 30 police officers involved in the Grenfell Tower inferno rescue have launched a High Court compensation claim for 'psychiatric injuries' suffered during the deadly fire.
Pc Martin Hart is the lead claimant of 33 officers suing top brass including the Met commissioner, the chief of the London Fire Brigade, and Kensington and Chelsea council for personal injury and loss of earnings.
It is thought he was one of 22 officers first to arrive to the blaze at the 24-storey tower block in west London on June 14, 2017, with children, families and elderly people trapped inside. The fire killed 72 people.
Pc Hart had tried to save the life of a man who had jumped from the burning building. He described in his witness statement to the Grenfell Tower inquiry of 'feeling sick' by the 'horrific' choice those trapped inside had to make of either burning inside or jumping to their deaths.
Louise Taylor, a solicitor at Penningtons Manches Cooper, is acting for the 33 officers filing the compensation claim against 12 parties and said they had sustained 'significant psychiatric injuries'. Six of those officers have since retired from Scotland Yard.
More than 30 police officers involved in the Grenfell Tower inferno rescue have launched a High Court compensation claim for 'psychiatric injuries' suffered during the deadly fire
The blaze at the 24-storey tower block in west London on June 14, 2017, killed 72 people, with children, families and elderly people trapped inside
In a police statement, Pc Hart told of arriving at Grenfell Tower as the 'fierce' fire took hold of the building.
'I could hear people calling for help, I could see people looking out of their windows at different levels of the tower and I had the feeling that they did not have a way out as the flames were spreading further to the south across the eastern aspect of the building,' he said.
'I recall saying to nobody in particular "sweet Jesus" and "God help them" several times.
'What I was seeing was surreal and like nothing I have witnessed at any time of my life or career. I knew that people including children were likely dying inside the building as I looked at it, and I recall considering how many people including children may have suffocated in the
