Police cleared after 4 men died in locked cannabis mill fire

Four Vietnamese men died in a fire at Bismark House Mill in Derker last year, trapped inside what police believe was a cannabis cultivation operation. The men-Uoc Van Nguyen, Cuong Van Chu, Duong Van Nguyen, and Nam Thanh Lee-were being exploited by criminals to grow illegal drugs, according to the coroner's findings.

The fire broke out in May 2022, but it wasn't until July that demolition workers found human remains at the derelict mill site. By then, the building had been declared structurally unsafe and partial demolition had already begun. The Independent Office for Police Conduct investigated how police handled information about potential victims inside the mill.

The IOPC found a senior officer showed 'gross incompetence' for failing to share concerns about the men's welfare, but cleared three officers of misconduct. Police were first contacted by a Vietnamese chaplain in London who had heard from families in north Vietnam that their relatives might be inside the burning mill. The coroner said this information should have been acted on sooner, but even if it had been, the men couldn't have been saved.

The coroner ruled the men were likely locked inside the mill to maintain the cannabis farm and couldn't escape when the fire started. She described them as driven by a desire to support their families back home, only to be exploited with 'callous regard for their welfare and safety'. The fire's cause remains undetermined, and the coroner recorded open conclusions for all four deaths.