Post on 21-Oct-2020
transcript
IN THE MATTER OF THE GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY
Name: Jamie Murray
Statement No: 1
Exhibits: JMI, JM2
STATEMENT OF JAMIE MURRAY
Preamble
1. I make this statement from my own personal knowledge and from matters that I have
been told about by others; where the information does not come from my own personal
knowledge I make this clear below.
2. I am a core participant to the Grenfell Inquiry and I make this statement because I was a
resident at Flat 15 Grenfell Tower (fourth floor), at the time of the fire. I moved into
Grenfell Tower on 30 January 2017. I lived there with my husband, Mahad Egal, and two
children and I was there on the night of the fire.
3. During our time at Grenfell Tower, my husband and I had many concerns about the state
of the building. My husband raised these repeatedly through complaints to our landlord,
the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC). However, I understand
that the purpose of this statement is to assist the Inquiry in their understanding of the
events of the night of the fire, and therefore I will purely focus on these events. I intend
to produce a further statement to assist the Inquiry which will focus on my concerns about
the Tower itself.
Personal baclo,zround
\ \ as horn on 1989 f am married with two children,
born on and born on
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At the time of the fire, was one and a half years old and was three years
old.
5. I am currently living at emergency accommodation at
with my husband and children.
6. 1 had set up a business with my husband, Mahad, after we taught ourselves coding.
However, after we had our children, I had to take a step back from the business and at
the time of' the fire I was a stay at home Mum. 1-kiltHAKEg )i-VA'16 ‘ -ttaif.ie .(Jm)
Grenfell Tower
7. We had previously lived in a small studio where there was no room for us to move, but
my flat at Grenfell Tower allowed us space. I was particularly happy with the large living
room, because it gave the children room to play, 1-11=if> -1-11(1/"" ej\j°1-T4 141-1wIE5C4qCf Om)
8. Our flat was at number 15 Grenfell Tower, located on the fourth floor of the building.
We had two bedrooms, a living/dining room, a bathroom and a separate toilet and
kitchen. Our flat was overlooking the park and train tracks. My solicitor has shown me a
plan referenced MET00012593_0012 and from this I can confirm that our flat was on the
North-West corner, with our living room windows facing out to the North, and our
kitchen windows facing West.
Even though we had problems with the state of the building, we loved living there. I felt
that it was our forever home. I envisaged my children coming home with their children
to visit Mummy and Daddy in their old house. In my mind, moving into Grenfell would
be the only time we needed to move and we would never have to move home again as
we would grow old and happy there.
10. A few weeks before the fire, a gas pipe was installed in the fire exit stairs. It was boxed
in and painted over to blend in with the colour of the wall. I remember joking about the
fact that they had managed to find exactly the same dirty white colour paint. Before they
installed the pipes, we had received a note from our neighbour, Zoe, telling us not to let
the TMO people in as they were drilling through the ceiling and there was asbestos in the
ceiling. They did not come into our flat to install the pipes, however.
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11. On the Saturday before the fire there was a fire engine outside the Tower on the green
are& I took the kids to show them the engine. I remember that Mahad asked the
firefighters why they were there and they said they were carrying out checks. This didn't
really stand out to me at the time as anything odd.
Self evacuation
12. On 13 June 2017, I was at home with my husband and children. We had dinner together
and then I put the children in bed at approximately 8pm. Mahad was out with his friends,
so I was in the living room watching TV on my laptop and reading a book. Mahad came
in and heated up some pizza. I cannot recollect what time this happened.
13. When the pizza was being heated, the oven made a strange noise. I remember this because
after Mahad came into the living room with the pizza and sat down next to me, we were
discussing the noise that the oven made, and I remember that we discussed turning it off
by the socket. I can't recall our exact conversation but I do have a vague recollection of
believing at the time that the noise may have been an electrical surge.
14. We had finished eating, I was just shutting down my laptop and we were getting ready
to leave the living room and go to bed when there was banging on our door. It sounded
like somebody was knocking really hard. I was startled by the urgency of the knock and
because of the lateness of the hour. Mahad told me to wait in the living room and he
would go investigate, and so I stayed in the living room while he went to answer the door.
15. The next thing I heard was Mahad shouting. I came out into the hallway and could see
him in the bathroom shouting "There's a fire! There's a fire- I could smell smoke while
I was standing in the hallway.
16. When I entered the hallway there was a smell of smoke. I couldn't see any smoke, but it
was dark in the hallway as only the bathroom light was on.
17. Mahad threw me a wet towel and I remember that we didn't have to speak at all, we both
headed straight into the children's bedroom. Both of them were sleeping. I remember
going straight to my daughter and picking her up. I was aware that I did not want to
panic the children as we woke them up from their sleep, so I told them that we were
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playing a game called "look at the sky at night". I was not really thinking anything at
this point apart from that we all needed to leave. I just picked up straight away and
went into the hallway. I carried her to the coat rack in our hallway next to the door and I
remember feeling panicky while I looked for our coats. The only on I could find was
M's and I put it on her, then Mahad came out of the children's bedroom carrying.and told me not to worry about the coats so we all just lined up at the door. We didn't
stop to take anything.
18. As we were lined up in our flat next to the door, Mahad was standing in front of me
holdings I was behind him holding M. I remember him saying to the children
"We're going to go outside. We're going to go play hide and seek which is why we're
covering your heads with the towels and then we're going to have a night-time adventure
and look at the sky and try to find Venus". Mahad said to me "We're going to go! Hold
on to me baby!" He opened the door and stepped into the 4th floor hallway outside our
flat and I stepped out after him.
19. When we stepped into the 4th floor hallway, I could see smoke. I remember that the lights
were on and I could see OK, but that there was light grey smoke hazing throughout the
corridor. There was a strong smell of smoke, but I didn't have any difficulty breathing
and I was taking fast, panicked breaths. I have been shown a smoke and fire descriptor
chart by my solicitor, which I exhibit as JM I and the state of the smoke was somewhere
between pictures 'B' and 'C'.
20. I remember looking to my right, towards flat 14 and seeing that the door was shut and
Abdul was standing outside. He was looking panicked but I can't remember him saying
anything. When I looked the other way, I could see that the door to Flat 16 was open and
smoke was coming out. All you could see in the doorway of Flat 16 was light grey smoke
billowing out and moving quickly as though there was a draught. From the moment I
turned away from Flat 16, I remember just focusing on Mahad's back and I didn't see
anyone else.
21. As we left the 4th floor hallway and went out into the stairwell there was much less smoke,
but I remember the smoke coming out behind us in draughts every time we opened a door
and went into a new area. We went down the stairs and I remember it felt draughty and
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light smoke was blowing behind us. It had always been draughty on the stairwell and
when it was windy outside you could hear the wind howling on the stairwell.
22. I remember that we were running down the stairs and all I could hear was our footsteps
and the sound of my heart beating. I was so focused on getting my children out. I knew
there was a fire in the house next to ours and at this point I felt we were running for our
lives.
23. We got to the second floor walkway and we ran across it and down the final flights of
stairs to the ground floor. I remember that there was a smell of smoke all the way down
but I couldn't see smoke on the lower floor stairs.
24. My uncle died in a fire, and so my Dad always made us very aware of where fire exits
were and I noted this in every home I moved to.
25. As you get to the bottom of the stairs at Grenfell Tower, there are two exits. One is a side
fire exit door exit straight out of the Tower, and the other leads into a glass lobby area. I
don't remember why we didn't leave through the side exit, as I was just following Mahad,
but I vaguely recall that he was unable to get through that door. Mahad luckily had his
fob and we were able to get into the glass lobby area because it only has fob access.
26. When we got to the lobby part, I could see firefighters were entering the main door. 1
cannot recall how many, I just felt relieved because they were there. We went past them
and as we were leaving, one of the firefighters requested a key fob. Mahad gave them his
fob. I remember Mahad saying to the firefighter "Remember me, I'm the young Somali
man, those are my keys!"
Outside the Tower
27. When we came out of the Tower, we sat on the concrete air vent at the front of the
building near to the intercom. I have been shown a map of Grenfell Tower and the
surrounding area by my solicitor and I exhibit it as 'JM2'. I have marked the place
where we sat at first with an X and labelled it 'A'.
28. At this point we were facing out from the Tower on the South side. I could see some fire
engines, maybe 3, and more firefighters, but I can't remember how many. I don't
remember seeing any police officers, ambulances or paramedics throughout that night.
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29. I think that we were talking to the children and telling them to look up, because I
remember seeing the moon. We then moved from that concrete vent to sit on another one
round at the East side of the tower. I have marked this on exhibit JM2 with a second 'X'
labelled 13'. I think we were told to move by a firefighter, I can't really remember as I
was just following Mahad.
30. When we got to point '13', I looked up and could see the fire. I saw flames licking out of
the window. The flames were large and vibrant orange. They were moving really fast.
At first the flames were inside and even though they were reaching out of the window, it
didn't appear that any of them were coming from the outside of the building.
31. However, as we sat on the vent, we began to hear a really loud crackling sound. As we
watched, I could see that the flames were now on the outside of the building. They were
moving upwards from the window. I recall feeling heat radiating from the fire as we sat
there and starting to see small pieces of burning debris falling downwards.
32. I do not remember how long we sat at point 'B' but we got scared for the children and
moved to stand on the green area next to the Tower.
33. There were other people on the green, but I was staring, mesmerised at the Tower and so
I did not note how many people were there or who they were. At this point, the heat
coming from the Tower was immense and I could see smaller sparks of fire and tiny
pieces of flaming debris floating out towards us while large pieces of debris were
crashing downwards. The crackling was very loud.
34. I remember thinking that we needed to move in case we got hit by the falling debris and
we walked further back from the Tower, into the middle of the green, which I have
labelled as point 'C' on Exhibit JM2.
35. By the time we were standing in the middle, the fire had caught the outside of the building
to the point where the level above the 4th floor and possibly the level above that had
caught fire. The fire was moving upwards and in a V shape as well. There was a lot of
black smoke but it was all moving upwards and then blowing to the left when it got high
above the tower. We could still feel the heat from the fire.
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36. At some point when we were standing on the green, our neighbour from Flat 16 came to
talk to Mahad. I now know that this person was Mr Kebede, but at the time I didn't know
his name. I was standing a little way away from Mahad and holding so I didn't
really hear the conversation but I do remember that Mr Kebede shouted something about
his kitchen and his fridge. I heard these parts because he was shouting quite loud at this
point in the conversation.
37. I don't remember seeing any firefighters from when we moved round to the side of the
building away from the main entrance.
38. We moved even further back towards the sports centre but we could still feel the heat
from the fire and small black stuff was floating towards us.
39. I was stood there in shock. I could not stop watching while the fire went higher up the
building in a burning V shape. I saw someone on one of the higher floors opening their
curtain and then their window; they leaned over to see what was going on. The person
then went back into their flat. I do not know what happened to that person. I rememberlioar-61, Cr&tiout-
o iiie — screamingEGet out!" kwer-and-o-Yer-agaii.1- could see that the fire was climbing towards
01\4:1 C • " their window. After I screamed some of the lights came on and I could see some more
OM) people at the windows. I could not hear any sirens. There was a faint sound of a firealarm.
40. I cannot remember how long we stood there before I decided to take the kids and go to
my mother's house. She lives around the corner at the point I have labelled 'D' on exhibit
JM2. Me, Mahad and the children went together. She was on holiday with my step father
at the time but my sister, Lisa was at home with her friend, Sandy. We woke them up and
told them that the tower was on fire, I remember that they were in a mad shock. Once I
got there, I asked Sandy to call Dawn, my other sister, to contact my dad to let him know
we are okay
41. Mahad left me and the children there and he went back to Grenfell Tower to see if he
could help people. He brought back a woman and her daughter, and I remember feeding
the daughter with my children. The woman was wearing a T-shirt and underwear, so I
gave her my Mum's pyjama bottoms & slippers and she stayed for a while but then left.
I don't know where she went, but she left her daughter with me and I put her to sleep
with my children. I do not know where she went. At some stage during the night I went
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into my Mum's garden and stood watching the Tower. I could only see the top but I could
see that it was completely on fire. I could see black smoke rising from it upwards and
then across the sky. I just went back inside and tried to keep myself away from it.
42. I do not recall exactly when Mahad returned.
43. Grenfell was my home. I don't have one of them anymore. They say home is where the
heart is and this is what is what I feel has been taken away from us. Everything apart
from our lives was taken away from us. They took away my children's comfort, they
took away a part of me because I feel like I've changed. I used to be carefree and happy
all the time. Now I just worry about what tomorrow is going to bring and whether
tomorrow will come.
Statement of Truth
44. I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
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