MP accused of Grenfell fire 'conspiracy' over death count

A London MP has been accused of "fuelling conspiracy theories" after he said he had "sympathy" with the suggestion the authorities were covering up the true number of dead within Grenfell Tower in order to prevent civil unrest.

David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, admitted he had "no idea" if the number was being covered up but said there was a "gap" between what local people had said to him they had seen and what the official figures had shown.

Kevin Hurley, a former senior investigator with City of London police, said the MP had got it wrong and was fuelling conspiracy theories.

Mr Hurley, who led a team of UK police officers to help identify British victims of the 9/11 attacks, said: "I like David Lammy, he is a very good constituency MP and he cares about people.

"But in this case he's called it wrong and by what he's doing, he's actually causing some people to take up that call that it's been covered up.

"The reality is that having investigated many, many fires in the past, the police will probably never know how many people were in that building.

"There is no question that the very top floors of the building are pretty well burnt out.

"And even though they're putting in specialist search teams to have a look, they'll be lucky to find the odd bone fragment and that's about all."

Scotland Yard commanders estimate the death toll in Grenfell tower is 79, but acknowledge that number may rise.

However, there are many local residents who believe the figure is much higher and that police are suppressing the truth to help prevent anger within the community.

In recent media interviews, David Lammy, who lost a friend in the tragedy, expressed sympathy for that viewpoint.

In further social media posts on Tuesday, he said: "The truth is that the authorities have lost the trust of the community. Making an effort to work out how many people were in Grenfell would be a good first step.

"The community was let down over Grenfell and they feel let down again by the lack of info on numbers."

Two weeks on from the fire, the community around the burnt out tower block is one which still feels utterly traumatised by the tragedy.

Everywhere, people can be seen pausing to stare at Grenfell, or to read the many appeals for the missing, posted on walls, bus stops and phone boxes.

Among them are other posters claiming the number of dead is at least 150.

Emmanuel Matomby, stopping to pay his respects at one of the makeshift shrines, said: "I can see from the perspective of the police, them not wanting to release the number straight away because that's going to cause outrage.

"But at the same time, the families don't know what on earth is going on. They want to bring an end to the doubt.

"So when you look at how big that building is, there's loads of people living on the top floors. I don't want to say the number, but it's got to be in three figures."

The singer Lily Allen was the first high-profile figure to give voice to claims the authorities were not being honest about the death toll.

The comments by David Lammy will only compound the suspicions many around Grenfell have.

Tiago Alves fled Grenfell tower with his family. They are now being housed in a local hotel, until the council can find them something permanent.

"I genuinely think that the death toll is higher," he said.

"A lot of people are saying that it might be a cover-up. I'm not sure that that's the case, but there are a lot of people who are not necessarily registered and we're not sure if they're missing.

"Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, the death toll will be confirmed."

Prince Charles paid a private visit to the local sports centre on Tuesday, which is now an emergency relief hub.

For those made homeless, their most pressing concern is getting the help they need to rebuild their lives.

But for others, suspicions they are not being told the truth are not going away.