Police are considering building a full-scale replica of part of Grenfell Tower to help secure future criminal convictions — but grieving families say the move will only delay justice further.

The Metropolitan Police told relatives that the replica, which could take over a year to construct inside a warehouse, would assist jurors in understanding how the fire spread during any future trials.

However, families of victims have expressed anger and deep mistrust. A spokesperson for Grenfell Next of Kin said:

The trust is broken in the Met Police and the system. Now they want to build a tower and on and on it goes.

Detective Superintendent Garry Moncrieff, leading the investigation, defended the idea in a letter to families, saying it was “essential” to build the replica to aid juror comprehension. He stressed that no final decision has yet been made.

The force also revealed that the number of investigators has been increased to 180, with investigation costs expected to exceed £100 million. So far, police have generated millions of words of evidence and plan to submit files on 20 organisations and individuals by late 2026.

The Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 killed 72 people and has since led to a public inquiry, which found the disaster resulted from “decades of failure” by government and the construction industry.

A Met Police spokesperson said:

We recognise the impact the wait for justice has on survivors and families, but we must take every step necessary to ensure a fair trial.

The original Grenfell Tower is due to be “carefully taken down” over the next two years, with a permanent memorial expected to be proposed by 2026.