Witness Statement of: Bernard Shaw

No. of statement: 1

Exhibits: 0

Date of statement: 30.05.18

GRENFELL TOWER PUBLIC INQUIRY

WITNESS STATEMENT OF BERNARD SHAW

I, Bernard Shaw, will say as follows:

1. This statement is my account of events that took place on 14th June 2017. This state-

ment is made for the purposes of Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry. I wish

to make a further statement as part of Phase 2 of the Inquiry.

Background

2. I was born in the United Kingdom but moved to the Caribbean at a young age where I

spent my early childhood. I came back to London as a teenager to live at

Tersterton Walk with my father, three sisters Sharon, Sabrina and Samantha and my

younger brother Michael. My siblings all still live at that address.

3. I moved into ETesterton Walk in September 1991.

4. I went to and have a history degree from the

I've often tutored children in the community and so I became

familiar with a few of them through that.

5. There is more I wish to say about what it was like to live on the Estate but I will wait

to make a further statement as part of Phase 2.

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14th June

6. On the night of the 13th June, I was talking on the phone from around 11:30pm to

Eddie Daffarn, he lived on the 13th floor of Grenfell Tower and we have known each

other for about fifteen to sixteen years. Eddie is very political and we are both active

in advocating for our community. We were talking on the phone for a long while up

until 12.15am, we were making plans to go for a walk the next day and were talking

about what we needed to do in relation to the TMO and RBKC's plans to hire private

contractors to do work in the Tower.

7. At around 12:20am I remember I was talking to another friend of mine on the phone,

Jevon Moses, who lived in front of the Tower in Grenfell Walks. I was telling him

that I can smell something burning I thought it was my phone, and he said "nah its

nothing". Ten minutes later at around 12:30am he called me back and told me that

the Tower was on fire. I immediately ran outside through the Walks which leads to

the front of the Tower. There were at least twenty people there already, all on-lookers.

8. I've never seen anything like it, it began as a small fire in about only two of the floors

towards the bottom of the Tower on the side of the Tower I was facing, but the fire

was not small for very long. It was glowing, and pieces of the building were descaling

like skin and falling straight to the ground next to the Tower. I remember thinking at

the time that it must have been the cladding because nothing else would peel off that

way. I think it was about quarter of the cladding on fire. It was shocking to see.

I remember trying to call Eddie to make sure he got out, but I couldn't get through to

him. I also knew Raymond Bernard and Steven Power. We were all friends and had

known each other for about forty years. Raymond was slightly older than I was, and I

knew his sister Bernadette. We all used to socialise together, we'd go to parties

together, the pub and betting shop and we'd always check in with each other every so

often.

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10. 1 also knew the El-Wahabi family. I knew the daughter Nur Huda the best and her

brother Yasin. I became familiar with them over the last ten years when visiting Eddie

in the Tower and I had watched them grow up. Nur Huda knew that I used to tutor

other students in the community and once approached me to tutor her. I also became

familiar with their parents.

1 1. I was standing there watching the fire for about fifteen to twenty minutes before the

police came. The police and fire service anived together. I saw around five police

officers starting to usher us back, they were shouting at us aggressively to get back

into our homes as well as the residents of Grenfell Walks.

12. I saw quite a few armed police around. I thought something was going on. I thought it

was a bomb, probably because of the current political climate. Several police officers

were posted in front of the entrances to the Walkways.

13. You could hear the sirens of the fire trucks but not the trucks themselves. I knew that

Bramley Road was blocked off because of gas works, and I saw about five or six of

the fire attendants standing around, but I could not be sure what they were doing.

14. At around 12:50am I went back into my flat because the police weren't allowing us to

stand around there anymore, and about ten minutes later there was lots of banging on

the doors in our Walkway. They were telling everyone to get out of the building.

15. I started fearing that the Tower might fall, and so I grabbed some shorts, boxers and a

towel and put them in a bag because I didn't think we'd be allowed back in, I rushed

out of the building. My neighbours and I all assembled at the front foyer of Testerton

Walk which is on top of the Resource Centre, we were there all day.

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16. From where I was standing, I had a clear view of the East side of the Tower, but I

couldn't see anything below the sixth or seventh floors. I could hear people shouting

for help. Half an hour after leaving my flat at around 1:30am, I saw someone jump out

of the Tower and I felt extremely scared because I thought more people were going to

jump. I saw people were flashing their phones in the windows. I was just standing

there outside with my neighbours, watching. It was very sombre and very solemn; to

this day we are all still pinching ourselves because we can't believe it happened.

17. The building was burning all night. I was standing there all night just watching the

Tower burning with my neighbours. There were times when we'd talk to each and

speculate about the cause of the fire but for the most part we were just standing in

silence. I was numb and emotionally exhausted. I was concerned about my friends in

the Tower, and the information available at this point was very cloudy I didn't know

what was going on or whether most the people in the Tower had gotten out. There

was nothing I could do but stand there and wait to see who had escaped.

18. Between 6am and 7am I remember my neighbours, Isabella and her husband, came

out of their flat dressed for work, they knew nothing about the fire until that moment.

19. At around 9am I noticed that journalists from all over the world had arrived, I was

approached by reporters from Singapore and Australia.

20. At around 1:30pm I went back into my flat to take a nap as I had been up all night.

Soon after I heard someone at my front door was knocking. It was three police

officers saying "you need to come out". I asked them whether we would be allowed

back in. I did not get an answer from them.

21. I was told by my neighbours to go to St Clements Church. We all congregated there.

The Church was very helpful. They were directing people to accommodation and beds

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and in the following days they were giving grants and running advice centres and

therapies.

22. I stayed at the Church for a few hours, had cup of tea and I was checking in with

people I knew until about 3pm, I then went back to Testerton Walk foyer and sat with

my neighbour most of whom were still congregated there. At this point I saw about

ten firefighters pass us. They had been taking shifts to go in and out of the Tower all

night. We all broke out into a rousing applause to show appreciation for the

firefighters and the work they were doing, it was very moving.

23. At around 5pm I remembered that I had left my TV on so I asked a police officer

posted outside our entrance to escort me into my flat so I could turn it off. I then

came back out and I was sitting with everyone in the foyer for several hours, none of

us knew what we were supposed to do.

24. At around 9pm or 9:30pm, the police officers posted outside our entrance told us that

we could go back into our flats.

25. I went back into the flat and stayed there that night. I have a clear view of the East

side of the Tower from my living room window. I remember that it was all black but

there were still pockets of red. You could see the fire was still burning. It was spooky

I found it quite scary. I didn't want to watch it but couldn't help myself. I can't tell

you when the fire stopped burning building and it was difficult to look at it.

Accommodation

26. I stayed in my flat for two or three days after the fire. I went to the Westway Sports

Centre on the 15th of June. Everyone in the community at this point knew that's where

you went for information. I was appointed a Key Worker and was advised that I could

move to a hotel if I wanted to. I wanted to stay in my flat, but for days I kept thinking

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about the fire and having restless nights. I couldn't take it anymore so I went to the

Key Worker on 27th June, who placed me in a hotel. There is more I want to say about

this but I understand that I will get the opportunity in Phase 2 of the Inquiry.

27. I found it very difficult being stuck in a hotel, I found it intrusive, but I was trying to

make the most of a bad situation. It was difficult not having my own space and I

found it very difficult not being able to cook.

28. For a long time I was hoping that I'd be placed in accommodation so that I wouldn't

have to go back to my flat, but I began to realise that this was probably going to be

unlikely. The Council would probably place me somewhere far outside of the

community or in a studio flat. I decided to move back to Testerton Walk. I moved

back on the 25th March 2018.

29. To this day Testerton Walk still doesn't have gas, I'm still eating take-aways because

I can't cook my own food.

Impact

30. Up to this day, I'm still having flashbacks of people shouting for help.

31. There people who I knew who died in the Tower that night, some of who were my

friends who I had known for years. I find it difficult to discuss the people who lost

their lives in the Tower and how their deaths affected me.

32.

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33. There is a lot I want to say about the impact the fire has had on the community but I

again understand that I will have the opportunity to do so in Phase 2.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true.

1 am willing for this statement to form part of the evidence before the Inquiry and for it to be

published on the Inquiry's website.

Signed:

Dated: this 30th day of May 2018

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