Up to 57 people are facing charges over the Grenfell Tower disaster including manslaughter, the Metropolitan Police has revealed.
A further 20 organisations may also be prosecuted over the 2017 fire that claimed the lives of 72 people, the force said.
Offences which have been investigated include corporate and gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, misconduct in public offence, and health and safety crimes.
But trials are not expected to start before 2029, 12 years after the blaze.
Michael Mansfield KC, who has represented victims of the fire, stressed that given so many people face charges there are likely to be multiple trials.
“That's going to take five or six years on top,” he added, so trials could still be ongoing in 2035.
The Met is due to pass charging files to the Crown Prosecution Service by September, it revealed on Tuesday.
A decision on who will then be charged will then made before the 10th anniversary of the blaze next summer, police said.
The Met has looked at the role of 15,000 individuals and 700 organisations relevant to the investigation in what is the largest and most complex inquiry the force has ever carried out.
Garry Moncrieff, the officer in overall charge of the investigation, told of the “huge challenge” to “decipher” and “disentangle” the web of blame given so many individuals and organisations had a role in the disaster.
He said: “We are almost ready to submit files to the CPS.”
Police said 165 million electronic files had been gathered and searched for evidence while 14,400 statements have been taken in an investigation that has so far cost around £150 million.
Currently there are 57 individuals who are suspects for a range of possible criminal offences, and 20 organisations.
Charging files are expected to be passed to the CPS for most of them.
A full-size replica of a section of the tower is also being built, costing £2 million, for court cases.
The developments come 20 months after a public inquiry concluded that the tower in North Kensington, west London, was turned into a death trap by “dishonest” construction firms, architects and negligent politicians who ignored fire safety for decades.
The scathing verdict in September 2024 paved the way for criminal prosecutions over the disaster.
Scotland Yard’s investigation, codenamed Operation Northleigh, has been under way for around nine years.
The fire ripped through the west London tower block on June 14, 2017, in one of the worst tragedies in modern UK history.
Grenfell United, the bereaved families and survivor group, has stressed that the wait for justice is “unbearable”.
The group said on Tuesday: “Today’s update from the Metropolitan Police marks an important step in a process that has already taken far too long.
“Nearly 10 years after the Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, bereaved families, survivors and residents are being told that files will begin to be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service in September 2026, with charging decisions expected before the tenth anniversary.
“For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration. We meet it with caution, grief and determination.
“No family should have to wait over 10 years for justice for their loved ones, if it comes at all.
“Justice delayed any further would be unacceptable.”
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan praised the “immense courage” of the Grenfell community in its fight for justice.
He stressed: “Those responsible must be held to account.”
The public inquiry, chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, told how a refurbishment of the tower before the blaze left the block coated in cheap and highly flammable materials.
Grenfell residents had sought to raise the alarm about dangers in the building but their warnings were ignored.
Sir Martin picked out architects Studio E, principal contractor Rydon, sub-contractors Harley and Exova, and Kensington and Chelsea Council as sharing primary blame for the disaster.
He also condemned the “deliberate and sustained” manipulation of fire safety testing, misrepresentation of test data and misleading of the market.
“The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable”, he said, adding that failings around Grenfell were down to “incompetence”, “dishonesty”, and “greed”.
The public inquiry laid bare how cost-cutting on the refurbishment was prioritised over safety.
Warning signs of previous tower block fires were routinely ignored.
The “enthusiastic” pursuit of deregulation under David Cameron’s Government had overridden the need for fire safety controls across the construction industry, the inquiry found.
