Property millionaire charged over Grenfell Tower effigy video

A property millionaire has been charged after a video of a group burning an effigy of Grenfell Tower on bonfire night sparked outrage around the country.

Landlord Paul Bussetti, 46, will appear in court in London later this month after he was charged with an offence under the Communications Act 2003. 

Six people were arrested after the video of a cardboard model of the tower circulated online shortly after bonfire night last year.

A total of 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. 

Paul Bussetti has been charged after a video of an effigy of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire was circulated last year

Bussetti, pictured with his wife Gemma, will appear before a court in London later this month

After Bussetti was arrested, it emerged he co-owned an £8million block of flats in Clapham, south London, which were said to bring in around £30,000-a-month a rent.

He reportedly inherited millions from his father, landlord Lorenzo Bussetti, who was found shot in the head and chest following an argument with a tenant a in south London. The 55-year-old’s body was later found in a suitcase in Hackney in 2002.

Of Paul Bussetti’s charging, a Met Police spokesman said today: ‘A man has been charged following an investigation into a video posted online that showed a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burnt.

‘Paul Bussetti, 46, of South Norwood was charged on Friday, 12 April 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.

‘He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 30 April.’

The effigy is believed to have been burned at a party at the back of this London home

During the incident, a video of which was posted on social media, a group of men and women were heard howling with laughter as the cardboard effigy went up in flames. They were heard mockingly shouting: ‘Help me! Help me!’ 

In an apparent racist remark aimed at a depiction of a Muslim woman in a niqab, one onlooker says: ‘That little ninja’s getting it now.’ 

Members of the group also seem to mock the controversial ‘stay-put’ advice of the fire service yelling: ‘We’re coming to get you.’

At the time, relatives of the men claimed that the incident was a joke that got ‘out of hand’.

None of the other five men arrested have so far been charged. As of November 6 they were released from police custody and remained on police bail.