In response to John MacDonell's inflammatory and politically motivated comments that authorities were guilty of murder in respect of the Grenfell deaths, I have taken a look the definition of the intent (mens rea) needed for a murder conviction. Wiki provides the best, as follows:
"The
mens rea of murder is either an
intention to kill or an intention to cause
grievous bodily harm (
R v Moloney,
[26] R v Hancock & Shankland,
[27] and
R v Woollin[28]). In
Moloney, Lord Bridge was clear that, for the defendant to have the
mens rea of murder, there must be something more than mere foresight or knowledge that death or serious
injury is a "natural" consequence of the current activities: there must be clear evidence of an intention. This intention is proved not only when the defendant's motive or purpose is to kill or cause
grievous bodily harm (direct intent), but when death or grievous bodily harm is a virtually certain consequence of the defendant's act (indirect or 'oblique' intent)."
It is clear from this that those local authority officials responsible for construction, building regulations, fire prevention etc cannot be guilty of murder unless they intended to kill or cause gbh. I assume MacDonnell has no evidence of this, and thus he is trying to whip up public opinion for his own political purposes, which in my view is cheap and despicable, but no more than I would expect from him.
The charge of involuntary manslaughter or corporate manslaughter may well be appropriate. Hopefully, the forthcoming report into the tragedy will tell us.