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The Independent
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Inquiry launched to uncover truth behind violent clashes at Orgreave miners' strike
A public inquiry to uncover the truth of what happened during violent clashes between police and striking miners in Orgreave is set to begin in the autumn, the government has announced. The statutory inquiry, promised in Labour's election manifesto, will get to the bottom of one of the 'most controversial episodes in policing history'. It comes more than 40 years after 120 people were injured during skirmishes between police and miners in the Battle of Orgreave at a coking plant in South Yorkshire on 18 June 1984. In total, 95 picketers were arrested and initially charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited. Announcing the inquiry, home secretary Yvette Cooper admitted events at Orgreave had 'cast a shadow over communities in Yorkshire and other mining areas'. She added: 'The violent scenes and subsequent prosecutions raised concerns that have been left unanswered for decades, and we must now establish what happened.' The inquiry, which will have the powers to compel people to provide evidence, will be chaired by the Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield. It follows years of campaigning from the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign (OTJC), which welcomed the news, saying: 'We have waited a long time for this day.' Campaigners said they are determined to find out who was responsible for 'organising and ordering the deployment of multiple police forces, including mounted police armed with truncheons, shields and dogs, against striking miners'. They also want to find out why 'other evidence had been destroyed or embargoed until 2066 and 2071', after it emerged Northumbria Police had destroyed two boxes of documents relating to the strike in April last year. OTJC secretary, Kate Flannery, said: 'We now need to be satisfied that the inquiry is given the necessary powers to fully investigate all the aspects of the orchestrated policing at Orgreave, and have unrestricted access to all relevant information including government, police and media documents, photos and films.' The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary, Chris Kitchen, said the inquiry was 'hugely welcome'. Mr Kitchen added: 'The events at Orgreave, and throughout the strike, destroyed the trust between the police and mining communities even now, 41 years later. 'It is vital that this trust is won back and the NUM believe this inquiry will go some way to rebuilding that trust.' Kevin Horne, a miner arrested at Orgreave, said: 'It is now over 41 years since a paramilitary style police operation was planned at Orgreave and it is important to remember that some of the miners attacked and arrested there are now dead and many others are old and ill. 'We need a quick and thorough inquiry with a tight timescale so that surviving miners can at last obtain the truth and justice they have been waiting for.' South Yorkshire's Mayor, Oliver Coppard, described the events at Orgreave as one of the most controversial in policing history. 'The violent clashes, the arrest of 95 miners, the collapse of the subsequent trial after revelations about police conduct, and the absence of any investigation or accountability scarred those involved, and people across our entire community,' he said, adding that the inquiry is a 'landmark moment for justice and accountability'. 'It's a step towards setting the historical record straight, ensuring lessons are learned, and restoring public trust,' he continued. 'We owe it to the miners, their families, and our communities to ensure that the events of Orgreave are finally understood.' The Home Office said formal consultation between the home secretary and the Rt Revd Wilcox on the inquiry's terms of reference has begun. The Rt Revd Wilcox, who is working with the government to identify experts to support him on an independent panel, said he did not 'underestimate the weight of expectation or the significance of the task'. He added: 'I expect the panel to begin its work in the autumn, and we will endeavour to deliver an inquiry which is thorough and fair, and which will uncover what happened at Orgreave as swiftly as possible.'
ITV News
20-07-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Home Secretary announces inquiry into Battle of Orgreave
The Government has announced a public inquiry into a violent confrontation between striking miners and police which became known as the Battle of Orgreave. Campaigners have long fought for an investigation into the police's actions during and after clashes at the South Yorkshire coking plant on 18 June 1984. Dozens of people were injured and 95 picketers were arrested and charged with riot and violent disorder, but all charges were later dropped after evidence was discredited. The inquiry, expected to launch in the autumn, will investigate the events surrounding the incident and will have powers to compel people to provide information where necessary, the Home Office said. The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox, the Bishop of Sheffield, has agreed to chair the inquiry, which the Home Office said is intended to 'aid the public's understanding of how the events on the day, and immediately after, came to pass'. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said what happened at Orgreave 'cast a shadow over communities in Yorkshire and other mining areas'. Ms Cooper added: 'The violent scenes and subsequent prosecutions raised concerns that have been left unanswered for decades, and we must now establish what happened. 'I pay tribute to the campaigners who never stopped in their search for truth and justice, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we build an inquiry that gets the answers they and their communities deserve.' The Home Office said formal consultation between the Home Secretary and the Rt Revd Wilcox on the inquiry's terms of reference has begun. The Rt Revd Wilcox said he did not 'underestimate the weight of expectation or the significance of the task'. He added: 'I look forward to engaging with stakeholders in the coming weeks over the draft terms of reference, and to working with the government to identify experts to support me on the independent panel. 'I expect the panel to begin its work in the autumn, and we will endeavour to deliver an inquiry which is thorough and fair, and which will uncover what happened at Orgreave as swiftly as possible.' The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign (OTJC) said it wanted to know who was responsible for 'organising and ordering the deployment of multiple police forces, including mounted police armed with truncheons, shields and dogs, against striking miners'. The campaign group said it wanted the inquiry to find out how it was decided that 'striking miners should be attacked and arrested at Orgreave and charged with riot and unlawful assembly, which carried heavy prison sentences'. It added that it wanted to know why 'the police operational order for police deployments that day disappeared and other evidence been destroyed or embargoed until 2066 and 2071'. OTJC secretary, Kate Flannery, said the announcement of an inquiry was 'really positive news'. Ms Flannery added: 'We now need to be satisfied that the inquiry is given the necessary powers to fully investigate all the aspects of the orchestrated policing at Orgreave, and have unrestricted access to all relevant information including government, police and media documents, photos and films.' The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary, Chris Kitchen, said the inquiry was 'hugely welcome'. Mr Kitchen added: 'The events at Orgreave, and throughout the strike, destroyed the trust between the police and mining communities even now, 41 years later. 'It is vital that this trust is won back and the NUM believe this inquiry will go some way to rebuilding that trust.' Kevin Horne, a miner arrested at Orgreave, said: 'It is now over 41 years since a paramilitary style police operation was planned at Orgreave and it is important to remember that some of the miners attacked and arrested there are now dead and many others are old and ill. 'We need a quick and thorough inquiry with a tight timescale so that surviving miners can at last obtain the truth and justice they have been waiting for.' Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, said the inquiry was a 'landmark moment for justice and accountability'. Mr Coppard added: 'The Inquiry represents an opportunity to examine not only the actions of South Yorkshire Police and other forces on that day, but also the broader role of government at the time. 'It's a step towards setting the historical record straight, ensuring lessons are learned, and restoring public trust.'
The Guardian
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Orgreave inquiry: Why now and what are the crucial questions it seeks to answer?
Ministers have announced an inquiry into the violent policing at Orgreave and the collapsed prosecutions of 95 miners accused of offences there, 41 years after the infamous scenes of 18 June 1984. Here we set out some key details about why the inquiry has been set up and the crucial questions it may seek to answer. The revival of campaigning about the Orgreave injustices developed after the Guardian published an article in April 2012 making the link between the South Yorkshire police operation in 1984 and a collapsed trial in 1985, and the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 people were unlawfully killed. The same force, led by the same chief constable, Peter Wright, was responsible for the disaster, and orchestrated a false narrative to blame the victims. The BBC in Yorkshire then broadcast a documentary in October 2012, highlighting that dozens of police officers' statements alleging criminal behaviour by miners at Orgreave had the same opening paragraphs, apparently dictated to them by detectives. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) formed after that, and it has argued for 13 years that the injustices endure today and an inquiry is needed. Yvette Cooper began calling for an inquiry in 2015 when she was shadow home secretary, and Labour has pledged to hold an inquiry in every election manifesto since 2017. OTJC founding member Joe Rollin said they expect the inquiry to finally access all relevant documents, including some that have remained classified on grounds of national security. The overall police operational plan has never been made public. The National Union of Mineworkers has always believed the police attacks were pre-planned, kettling miners into a field and deploying strategically positioned mounted officers, dog handlers and units with short shields and truncheons. During the miners' strike police set up roadblocks across routes to mining areas to prevent people picketing, but many miners who were at Orgreave still talk with bewilderment about the police directing them into the site that day. No police officer has ever been held to account for the apparently dictated statements and false evidence that was used to charge 95 men with riot and unlawful assembly. All defendants were acquitted in July 1985 after a 48-day trial in which defence barristers repeatedly accused police officers in court of lying and fabricating evidence. A 2015 report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (now the Independent Office for Police Conduct) said it found suggestions that senior South Yorkshire police officers later acknowledged there was evidence of perjury, and in effect covered it up. The IPCC referred to a note regarding the force's 1991 settlement of a civil claim, paying 39 miners £425,000 compensation but with no admission of liability. 'The note also raises further doubts about the ethical standards and complicity of officers high up in [South Yorkshire police],' the report said. The inquiry will be a panel of relevant experts, chaired by Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield. This builds on the pioneering Hillsborough Independent Panel (HIP), chaired by the then bishop of Liverpool, James Jones. Unlike that panel, the Orgreave inquiry will be statutory, which means it has powers to compel people to provide information. Wilcox will develop the terms of reference, format and panel membership in consultation with the Home Office. He said that he expects the panel to begin its work this autumn. After it emerged last month that Northumbria police had destroyed their documents relating to Orgreave, Cooper, now the home secretary, said she has written to all police forces believed to have relevant records, saying they must be preserved. The inquiry may follow the model of the HIP, which considered only documentary evidence and did not hold hearings where witnesses such as retired police officers would be questioned in person. It is presumed the Orgreave inquiry will produce a report that will seek to illuminate the full truth of the police operation and prosecutions. Campaigners also hope that it will help redress the broader historical narrative, the negative portrayal of the miners in large sections of the media, and prime minister Margaret Thatcher labelling them 'the enemy within', while her government fully supported the police. Given the four decades since these traumatic events of the 1980s, it appears unlikely anybody could be prosecuted, whatever the inquiry finds. But Cooper did not rule it out, saying she could not pre-empt the inquiry's findings, or any outcome.
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Northumbria police destroy Battle of Orgreave and other miners' strike files
Police have destroyed documents relating to the Battle of Orgreave in 1984 during the miners' strike, which is the subject of a forthcoming official inquiry. Northumbria police disposed of the papers less than a month before Rishi Sunak called last summer's election, which brought the Labour party into government with a longstanding manifesto pledge to hold an inquiry into the scenes of violent policing at Orgreave. In response to a freedom of information request from Joe Diviney, a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield, the force said last week: 'We can confirm that two boxes containing documents/records in relation to the miners' strike and Orgreave were destroyed on 29 April 2024 and 30 April 2024. 'These were not moved elsewhere. As part of the records management review process they were destroyed as they were outside of the retention period.' Kate Flannery, the secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC), which has led calls for an official inquiry for a decade, said: 'This is extremely disturbing news. We are now understandably worried about how many other police forces may have recently destroyed or intend to destroy important information that would be very relevant in an Orgreave inquiry or investigation.' The violence at the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire on 18 June 1984, when striking miners were charged by police on horseback and hit over the head by officers carrying truncheons and short shields, is remembered as the landmark confrontation of the bitter, 1984-85 strike. Approximately 8,000 miners assembled for a mass picket of the plant called by the National Union of Mineworkers, and were met by 4,500 police officers from forces nationwide, led by South Yorkshire police. A year later, a criminal prosecution of 95 miners for the offence of riot collapsed after police officers were repeatedly accused of lying by the miners' barristers, and of malpractice including that an officer's signature on a police statement was forged. The OTJC has always pointed to the connection with the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which subsequent inquests found 97 people were unlawfully killed at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, due to gross negligence manslaughter by the South Yorkshire police officer in command, Ch Supt David Duckenfield. After the disaster, the force mounted a false narrative to blame Liverpool supporters, that bereaved families fought for decades to overturn. In 2016, when Yvette Cooper, now home secretary, was chair of the home affairs select committee, Northumbria police's then chief constable, Steve Ashman, confirmed to her that the force held documents relating to the Orgreave operation. They included a superintendent's report on an incident in which a police constable was shown on television news hitting a miner with his truncheon. Northumbria police sent four units, 92 officers in total, to South Yorkshire, Ashman said, and the superintendent had outlined 'the management and logistics' associated with their work, including a timetable of the day at Orgreave starting at 4.50am. One of the OTJC's key aims has long been to see police planning documents, to see if the violent policing was predetermined, or was a response to initial stone-throwing by miners, as the police alleged at the time. Diviney said: 'As a historian, I'm mortified that Northumbria police would destroy evidence that is of vital importance to an inquiry. I'm saddened for the miners and their families who have waited too long for truth and justice. 'It illustrates inherent problems with the police being custodians of their own evidence. And it's another reason to hurry up with an inquiry.' A Northumbria police spokesperson said: 'We can confirm two boxes containing data in relation to the miners' strike were disposed of in April 2024 following a formal review, retain or disposal process in line with force policy and the Data Protection Act 2018.' Labour has promised an Orgreave inquiry since the 2017 general election, and pledged in its 2024 manifesto to 'ensure, through an investigation or inquiry, that the truth about the events at Orgreave comes to light'. Cooper wrote to the OTJC this month before the 41st anniversary of the Orgreave events, saying she was continuing to consider 'the scope and format of an investigation or inquiry', and that 'my officials are working at pace'.
