Orgreave papers destroyed by police thought to incorporate report on infamous truncheon beating

Paperwork destroyed by police referring to operations at Orgreave throughout the miners’ strike in 1984 are believed to incorporate a report on a infamous incident during which an officer beat a person over the top with a truncheon.

Within the ITV Information at 10 report on the violent scenes at Orgreave, the officer, PC Martin of Northumbria police, was seen hitting the miner, Russell Broomhead, a number of instances together with his truncheon.

Northumbria police have been extensively criticised since confirming that in April final yr they destroyed two bins of paperwork referring to the strike and the Orgreave operation. That was simply months earlier than a normal election that the Labour get together, which had a longstanding pledge to carry an inquiry into what occurred at Orgreave, was anticipated to win.

The timing led to accusations that the drive had destroyed the paperwork to keep away from scrutiny of its officers’ actions.

On the Orgreave coking plant on 18 June 1984 an estimated 8,000 miners assembled for a mass picket known as by the Nationwide Union of Mineworkers, met by 4,500 cops from forces nationwide, led by South Yorkshire police.

The violence that came about, with police charging on horseback and hitting miners with truncheons, is remembered as a landmark confrontation of the bitter 1984-85 strike. A felony prosecution of 95 miners for riot and illegal meeting collapsed a yr later after the miners’ barristers repeatedly accused cops of mendacity and malpractice.

The Orgreave Fact and Justice Marketing campaign (OTJC) has for years known as for an inquiry into the police operation and the failed prosecutions. Northumbria police beforehand confirmed that they held paperwork related to the policing at Orgreave, together with a report by a superintendent who was the liaison officer for 92 officers despatched to South Yorkshire.

In 2016 Northumbria’s then chief constable, Steve Ashman, wrote to Yvette Cooper, then the chair of the house affairs choose committee, explaining that the superintendent’s report detailed an incident involving a police constable.

“This officer was believed to have been involved in striking a ‘picket’ with his truncheon,” Ashman wrote. “This incident is identified as been [sic] the subject of television news reporting … the superintendent’s report details how [the PC] was ‘reported’ for the offence of assault to the director of public prosecutions (DPP). The report further outlines that the DPP subsequently decided there would be no criminal prosecution in the case.”

Joe Diviney, a historian on the College of Sheffield who’s researching a PhD on the Orgreave occasions, identified that this appeared clearly to be the PC Martin incident. Martin was recognized, together with in police paperwork, because the officer who struck Broomhead, and a report was despatched to the DPP who determined, on the identical day Martin was interviewed, to not convey prices.

Throughout an interview underneath warning, Martin denied wrongdoing, and stated of the Orgreave policing: “It’s not a case of me going off half cock. The senior officers, supers and chief supers were there and getting stuck in too – they were encouraging the lads and I think their attitude to the situation affected what we all did.”

Broomhead informed the Guardian: “I would still like truth and accountability for what happened. If something is wrong, it stays wrong. I never knew in all these years that a superintendent had written a report on the incident that involved me. It’s unbelievable that the police can throw that document away, without asking me and people it affects.”

Kate Flannery, secretary of the OTJC, stated: “It now seems highly likely that one of the documents destroyed by Northumbria police could relate to the PC Martin attack. Any destruction of important information relating to violent police attacks on striking miners means that crucial evidence is no longer available to an Orgreave inquiry.

“This all adds to the many concerns we have about police cover-ups and justice being denied.”

A Northumbria police spokesperson stated final month that the paperwork had been “disposed of … in line with force policy and the Data Protection Act 2018”.

After criticism, together with by the Labour MP Ian Lavery, the drive has since stated it’s investigating its personal decision-making. “We very much recognise the strength of feeling and concern within our communities at the disposal of information relating to the miners’ strike,” a spokesperson stated. “We can confirm, we are carrying out an investigation into the circumstances around the disposal of the material.”

The Archives and Information Affiliation is asking for police paperwork to be preserved by regulation. The affiliation’s chair, Ruth MacLeod, stated: “Many people have no idea that police records, which are important for accountability, can be so easily destroyed. There needs to be legislation to protect them, and prevent the kind of destruction that has happened in Northumbria.”