Scotland Yard has said it hopes to bring criminal charges against 77 companies and individuals for the Grenfell Tower fire, but trials will not start until a decade after the disaster that killed 72 people.

The Guardian understands a king’s counsel, a senior lawyer experienced in prosecutions, has been appointed to lead the crown’s criminal cases, which are expected to be complex and possibly last years.

The lead police investigator, Garry Moncrieff, said his team of 220 detectives and other staff had gathered “strong evidence” of potential wrongdoing that led to a devastating blaze tearing through the west London tower block in June 2017.

Police said they were sending a series of files of evidence to prosecutors later this year seeking a decision on whether criminal trials should be held.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it expected to make decisions on charges by June 2027, the 10th anniversary of the disaster.

Police say files will be sent to the CPS seeking charging decisions about 57 individuals and 20 companies.

Moncrieff said: “It’s our job to make sure that we do a fair, thorough, and comprehensive investigation, so that charging decisions can be taken, and that fairness runs throughout everything that we do.

“What I can say is that we have gathered strong evidence, and that evidence is sufficient, that we will be submitting files to the Crown Prosecution Service for them to make charging decisions.”

But it emerged that there was no prospect of any individual or company appearing in court until next year at the very earliest. It is more likely no trial will get before a jury until 2028, or possibly even later.

The group Grenfell United said: “Those responsible must now be held to account. Our community cannot be expected to endure years more of delay.”

The group Grenfell Next of Kin said: “There is a complete breakdown in trust and confidence. We no longer have faith in the institutions responsible for delivering accountability. After years of delays, reassurances and procedural updates, confidence in the system has been shattered.”

Offences being considered include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, and health and safety offences, police have said. Also under consideration is misconduct in public office but police declined to say whether that included any past or current political figures.

The Met investigation is examining the causes of the fire for criminal culpability along with how the tower block came to be in such a condition that the blaze could spread so widely and quickly, with catastrophic consequences.

A public inquiry by the retired judge Martin Moore-Bick into the disaster concluded in 2024. It found widespread failures in the construction industry, the council, regulators and central government. Moore-Bick said: “The simple truth is the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.”

The police investigation has so far cost £150m, and a replica of the tower costing £2m will be built so any jury can understand how the building looked before flames tore through it.

The long wait for justice in the courts has angered survivors and the bereaved.

Part of the cause is the complexity of the investigation and assigning criminal blame. The Guardian understands that police have for instance found cladding that caught fire and helped the blaze spread quickly, but that multiple companies and individuals played a part in the decision making.

Another reason for the wait of at least a decade is a decision to allow the public inquiry to take place and report before trials could take place.

The Met felt it had to wait for the inquiry’s final report before completing its identification of suspects and finalising its files of evidence, all of which were needed before prosecutors could assess the strength of the cases.

Grenfell Next of Kin said: “The criminal investigation and justice process should always have come first and been given priority. Instead, the £172m public inquiry was prioritised ahead of criminal accountability and delayed our justice.

“That decision is the central reason criminal accountability has been delayed for so many years and why justice for the Grenfell community continues to be denied.”

Grenfell United, which represents survivors and bereaved families, said: “For our community, this is not news we meet with celebration. We meet it with caution, grief and determination. We have waited almost a decade for accountability.”

The Grenfell inquiry concluded in 2024 that at the heart of the tragedy was the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies whose products caused the fire to spread so rapidly.

Grenfell United said: “The Ministry of Justice and the government must ensure the courts are properly resourced so that any prosecutions linked to Grenfell are heard swiftly. Justice delayed any further would be unacceptable.”