Mother states ‘anger is replacing grief’ following daughter’s death amidst cladding justice campaign

Amanda Walker experienced a sense of confinement in her apartment, which she was unable to sell due to its combustible cladding. Upon discovering that no governmental program would fund the removal of the hazardous substance from her recently constructed south London residence, she initiated a campaign. For four years, she pursued justice for herself and the millions affected by the crisis brought to light by the Grenfell Tower fire. Subsequently, at 51 years old, her mother and sister discovered her deceased in her one-bedroom flat. A recent inquest determined her death to be by misadventure. Her mother, Glenda, recollects, “She would often phone me late at night when she just couldn’t deal with it any more.” Glenda added, “I wish she could phone me now.” Six months prior, in July 2023, Amanda had spoken to members of the House of Lords who were examining the consequences of the cladding issue for apartment owners. She conveyed to them, “It’s devastating. It’s just a quagmire. It’s just chaos.” She further stated, “It’s so unjust. I had done nothing wrong and it’s destroyed my life already.” The recording of Amanda’s presentation to the Lords is now cherished by her mother, who is commenting publicly for the first time since the inquest’s finding. Glenda believes Amanda, an office manager at a City of London hedge fund, began consuming alcohol to manage the stress associated with impending, unmanageable bills for cladding repairs, potentially amounting to tens of thousands. Glenda stated, “I’m not ashamed for her for that because it was her way of coping. She used the term ‘seeking oblivion’.” Amanda dispatched numerous letters to Members of Parliament, local councils, and other accountable entities, yet “always got the statutory response,” her mother recounted. She added, “There are still over a million people in this situation and [MPs and civil servants] would write these platitudinous letters saying ‘oh we’re doing this, we’re doing that’.” Glenda views these responses not merely as unhelpful, but as proof that the true extent of the issue and its severe impact on individuals were not genuinely comprehended. The government ultimately introduced a program, the Building Safety Fund, designed to finance the removal of the specific hazardous cladding present on the exterior of Amanda’s apartment. She had anticipated that modifications incorporated into a distinct, significant piece of legislation known as the Building Safety Act—enacted following the Grenfell disaster—would assist her in rectifying internal fire safety flaws, such as inadequate fire stopping between units. However, these expectations were not met. Substantial exclusions existed regarding eligibility. Because certain other apartment owners within her complex had acquired a portion of the building’s freehold, she was categorized as a “non-qualifying” leaseholder, which implied she remained responsible for substantial, unlimited expenses contributing to the repair expenditures. Multiple suggested revisions to the Building Safety Act, which would have safeguarded individuals in Amanda’s circumstances, were rejected during the previous parliamentary session. Amanda was consistently apprehensive about the prospect of incurring insurmountable financial obligations. She characterized this situation as a “sword of Damocles over my head for three long years.” There was a fleeting period of optimism. “And then they vote against us, on everything,” she informed the peers. Amanda’s alcohol consumption escalated, prompting her family to seek medical intervention. She consented to hospitalization. General practitioners and psychiatrists explicitly stated in their assessments that Amanda’s drinking, stress, and anxiety stemmed from the cladding crisis’s effect on her psychological well-being. Anti-depressants were prescribed to her. She persisted in her advocacy alongside her mother, but the situation started to deteriorate. Glenda is of the opinion that the anti-depressants administered to her daughter were not proving beneficial. “I think she was over-medicated and her head was all over the place. She wasn’t depressed, she kept saying: ‘I am not depressed, I’m angry.'” Amanda’s romantic partner ended their relationship as her involvement in cladding activism increasingly dominated her existence. Her mother and sister would visit her to attempt to provide assistance. The situation reached a critical point one day in January. Glenda became increasingly apprehensive regarding her daughter, recognizing her need for immediate medical care. Glenda stated she had composed a “fairly assertive” letter to a hospital where her daughter had received prior treatment, cautioning that her state was becoming grave. Journeying to London amidst the rain, she repeatedly found herself “phoning and phoning and phoning” the hospital in an effort to prompt medical professionals to intervene once more. On the subsequent day, Amanda was discovered deceased. When questioned about whether she had ever considered her daughter might take her own life, Glenda responded, “Manda had talked about it. She’d talked about it.” Glenda expressed her ability to comprehend her daughter’s mental state during that weekend. “Yeah, I’ve seen it so often. I’m different from her and she felt despair… She wanted justice and she felt it was just awful. I think she lost faith in the government completely.” The government asserts that efforts are already in progress via the Remediation Acceleration Plan “to make sure those responsible for the cladding crisis pay their fair share”. It further states that it is “continuing to look at all options to ensure residents no longer have to deal with the nightmare of living in unsafe buildings”. Amanda’s apartment has now been transferred to her parents for management. The exterior cladding of the property has since been replaced, and her parents are attempting to sell it; however, they have been unsuccessful thus far because of internal structural fire safety concerns. Should the Building Safety Act not be modified by new legislation, Amanda’s parents or any subsequent buyer will bear the financial responsibility for rectifying these issues. Amanda’s mother expresses hope that discussing her daughter’s passing will not have been futile, and that her narrative might serve as an impetus for change. “You go through grief… and perhaps the anger’s getting in there a little bit now.” She concluded, “For her sake, we’d love to think that she had caused some small change.”