Survivors and bereaved families on Thursday were amongst those marking the anniversary of a fire that killed 72 people with 72 seconds of silence during a service at St Helen's Church in London.

The fire in the residential high-rise caused the greatest loss of life in a fire on British soil since World War II, a horror that left the neighbourhood and the country in shock.

Many residents said they had complained about safety and poor maintenance and were ignored because the tower was home to a largely immigrant and working-class population.

A public-housing block in one of London's richest boroughs, a short distance from the pricey boutiques and elegant houses of Notting Hill, it came for many to symbolise a divided and broken Britain.