Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick is expected to be appointed as the head of a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.
The appointment is expected to be announced by the government on Thursday.
Sir Martin had specialised in commercial law before spending 20 years as a judge of the Commercial Court and Court of Appeal.
He retired as a judge in December.
British police say it will be months until the final death toll from a London tower block blaze is known as Prime Minister Theresa May revealed that 120 other high-rise buildings also had exterior cladding that failed fire tests.
At least 80 people are dead, or missing and presumed dead, from the inferno that gutted the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block in west London on June 14 as families and children slept, and that figure is expected to rise.
Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack, the officer in charge of the police investigation, said the final death toll would only be known after officers completed a painstaking search and recovery operation which would take until the end of the year to complete.
"We are many months from being able to provide a number that we believe accurately represents the total loss of life inside Grenfell Tower," McCormack said.
- with AAP
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