ONE MAN has been charged over a video depicting a cardboard effigy of Grenfell Tower being burnt on a garden bonfire.
Six men from south east London were arrested on suspicion of a public order offence with a seventh cautioned after the footage surfaced online last November.
46-year-old Paul Bussetti has now been formally charged with two counts of sending/causing to be sent grossly offensive material via a public communications network, contrary to section 127 (1) (a) and (3) of the Communications Act 2003.
Bussetti will now appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, April 30th.
The video, which first surfaced on Twitter, showed a group of people carrying a model of the tower over to a bonfire.
Onlookers could then be heard laughing and joking, with some revellers shouting, "jump out of the window", "help me, help me" and "that’s what happens when they don’t pay their rent" as the model burns.
The eventual collapse of the model was greeted with audible cheers.
72 people died when the Grenfell tower block caught fire in June 2018.
The clip was branded “sickening” by James Brokenshire, the MP for Old Bexley & Sidcup, with Prime Minister Theresa May describing their action as “utterly unacceptable”.
"So many people lost so many loved ones, and many more have been deeply affected. To mock that disaster in such a crude way is vile,"Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy, who is led the investigation into the tower fire, said.
"I can’t imagine the distress this video will undoubtedly cause to bereaved families and survivors."
A survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire, Natasha Elcock, also described the footage as "disgusting".
Ms Elcock, a campaigner for Grenfell United, said: "Not only is it extremely upsetting to survivors and people who lost family, it’s hateful and offensive to everyone that has been affected by the tragic events of that night."
