Paul Keating

“Mr [name redacted] lived on the eleventh floor of a 17-storey tower block. His landlord was the local authority. In 2017, following the Grenfell Tower disaster, the local authority undertook a programme of installing sprinkler systems in all the residential tower blocks for which they were responsible, including Mr [name redacted].”

“The local authority had no statutory power to enter Mr [name redacted] flat for the purposes of installing a sprinkler system without his consent.”

“Over a period of six months during which the sprinkler system was installed in the tower block where Mr [name redacted] lived, he did not respond to letters informing him of the planned installation of the sprinkler system and inviting his agreement to contractors entering his flat as part of that work. He additionally refused to open his door to the tenant liaison officer.”

“If the local authority had had the statutory power to enter Mr [name redacted] flat for the purposes of installing the sprinkler system, it would have exercised that power and Mr [name redacted] flat would have been connected to that system.”

“Had Mr [name redacted] flat been connected to the sprinkler system, it is likely that the system would have been activated by the smouldering soft furnishings in his bedroom and the fire would have been extinguished before he was overwhelmed by carbon monoxide.”