Lakanal - One Year On

He desperately wanted to reach them but was prevented from doing so by firefighters for his own safety.

He still can't figure out why his young family were not rescued. It's still unclear if firefighters told his wife to stay put with her child. They died alongside the Francesquini family sheltered in their flat, reportedly sent back there by firefighters for their safety.

In conversation Mbet's tortured responses show he is a young man who is struggling with his emotions, battling to cope with his loss. The past year has seen Mbet continue his studies to complete an MBA at the University of Wales at Cardiff.

But for him life will not move on until an inquest explains what happened. He feels he's stuck in a dream.

That is not going to start until the police have concluded their investigation. There is no sign of that yet. Louise Christian, solicitor to the families, says the delay is incomprehensible.

Christian points out that after the Kings Cross fire, investigation, inquest and new legislation were all achieved within 12 months. She identifies a lack of political will to drive this case forward.

Meanwhile on the Sceaux Gardens estate itself, there is an eerie silence surrounding the empty Lakanal block where once 98 families had their homes. John McGrath, who has been the longstanding Chairman of the tenants' and resident's association, says it's like living next to a mausoleum.

A fear still grips the families in the neighbouring sister block, Marie Curie House, says McGrath despite millions of pounds of fire safety improvements demanded by the London Fire Brigade.

McGrath adds until people see the facts in black and white they believe nothing they are being told by the authorities about the cause of the blaze and why it spread.

One big thing has changed since last year. The election threw out the parties blamed for the mess and a new party was elected promising to sort it out. The new Deputy Council Leader, Ian Wingfield, was cheerleader supreme in bashing the last administration for its failings.

He can't say he doesn't know what he's let himself in for, residents are watching closely.

Now on the inside looking out he says that Southwark have done all they can, for their part, to furnish the police with the information they need to finish their investigation.

To date the legal bill for doing that has amounted to £1.2 million. But Cllr Wingfield adds that the fact that both Southwark Council and the London Fire Brigade are subject to this investigation and therefore potentially prosecution inevitably slows the process down.

It does seem a rather inhumane consequence of a process, to leave families of those who died suffering this emotional turmoil for so long.

Louise Christian, who also represents families of the Potters Bar rail crash victims, believes the legal system should be doing a lot better and has written to the Coroner to try to quicken the pace of the police investigation.

Mbet Udoaka says he's not been allowed back into the flat where he last saw his family and his belongings were removed to a storage facility without his consent.

His family home was not touched by the fire so he cannot understand why. He starts an answer to one of my questions "if this had happened in a developing country......" but trails off without being able to finish his sentence. Probably because he can't bear to think of the answer. Indeed.

Many believe he is justifiably bewildered.