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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