Lakanal House Fire: Jury retires over tower block deaths

Six people died in the fire at Lakanal House in 2009

The jury in the inquest into the deaths of six people, including three children who died in a tower block blaze has retired to consider its verdict.

The fire broke out at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south London, in July 2009.

Catherine Hickman, 31, Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her children, six-year-old Thais, and Felipe, three, were killed in the fire.

Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle also died. They all lived on the 11th floor.

The jury retired to consider verdicts after hearing evidence for more than two months at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton, south London.

In her summing up on Wednesday, Assistant Deputy Coroner Frances Kirkham said evidence suggested that the firefighters from incident command who dealt with the blaze did not have knowledge of the building layout.

She said they did not know they were dealing with maisonettes and did not know about escape balconies on the block.

Ms Kirkham added: "It's a matter for you, members of the jury, but you may conclude that the evidence suggests a lack of training amongst staff in relation to fire survival guidance calls prior to the incident that we're dealing with."