Write to the Home Secretary

Use the template below to write to the Home Secretary asking for an inquiry into Orgreave.

 

Dear Home Secretary

I am writing to you to ask you to set up an independent public inquiry or panel about the actions of the police at the Orgreave coking plant on 18th

June 1984 during the 1984/5 Miners Strike. On that day dozens of truncheon armed mounted officers  and snatch squads in riot gear brutally attacked picketing miners. Many miners were injured and 95 miners were arrested and charged with either riot or unlawful assembly. The trial of the arrested miners collapsed when the Prosecution abandoned the case after it became clear that the police had falsified evidence.

Some miners were later financially compensated but there was never any investigation into police conduct for assault, wrongful arrest, false prosecution and lying in evidence. Not a single officer faced disciplinary or criminal proceedings and no body was held to account for orchestrating attacking and arresting the miners. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) have since stated that there are “doubts about the ethical standards of officers in the highest ranks of South Yorkshire Police at the time”

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) provided you with a lengthy legal submission in December 2015 calling on you to set up an independent public inquiry but are still awaiting a response.

I believe that the issue of Orgreave is of local and national importance. A response to the OTJC about a full investigation into the violent and military style of policing on 18th June 1984, the demonising of picketing miners and the subsequent perjury by the police is now long overdue.

Yours sincerely