Northumbria Police admits destroying documents relating to the Battle Of Orgreave
Northumbria Police have confirmed they've destroyed records relating to the “Battle of Orgreave” during the Miners’ Strike – to the dismay of campaigners who are waiting for an official inquiry.
Two boxes of documents were disposed of last April, two months before the General Election brought Labour into power on a manifesto including a pledge to hold an inquiry into the infamous “battle” on June 18 1984.
The violent confrontation outside the coke works near Rotherham involved some 6,000 mounted police, riot police squads and dog units against 8,000 pickets. The clashes and their aftermath continue to evoke “a deep sense of grievance at wrongs never properly accounted for”.
Northumbria Police confirmed the boxes were disposed of “following a formal review, retain or disposal process in line with force policy and the Data Protection Act 2018”.
Kevin Horne, a miner arrested at Orgreave, said: “Any argument that documents and records were simply destroyed on the basis of time passed does not make sense given that Northumbria Police and other police forces had by April 2024, already kept the documents for nearly 40 years.”
A researcher discovered the boxes – which included papers covering the "management and logistics" of the deployment of police special units in South Yorkshire – had been destroyed after making a freedom of information request.
Their contents were known as they’d been outlined by a former chief constable of the force replying to a request by the Home Affairs Select Committee in December 2016 – chaired by then shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
The HASC wanted the information submitted to South Yorkshire Police for archiving for a potential inquiry.
Campaigner Chris Peace said it was of “vital importance that the fact of the destruction of these police papers just when we are on the cusp of some kind of inquiry being ordered is reported widely and questions asked why”.