Fresh appeal to pardon thousands of miners who were convicted 40 years ago

New research by Dr Joanna Gilmore, senior lecturer in law in York Law School, University of York, is being presented at an event at the National Coal Miners museum at Overton, Wakefield, on Saturday.

Dr Gilmore has interviewed dozens of lawyers who worked "at the coalface" defending miners and resisting extensive legal actions brought against the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984-85 strike.

She said: "The Scottish Parliament introduced legislation to provide an automatic pardon for certain categories of strike-related convictions in 2022.

"But thousands of English, Welsh and Scottish miners, who were convicted in England and Wales, still carry the scars of unjust convictions 40 years on. That needs to be urgently investigated and remedied.

"My research has started to uncover some terribly troubling convictions and I would hope the Labour Government starts to look at some of these things."

The majority of convictions were at magistrates’ courts for low level, non-violent offences giving a lie to characterisations by police and politicians.

Dr Gilmore said: "If you look back through the data as I have been doing the characterisation was wholly inaccurate.

"The overwhelming majority were working people who had never come into contact with the criminal justice system, they'd never been arrested, let alone convicted.

"The lawyers I spoke to talked about having to deal with very young and frightened individuals, who even though they were arrested for obstructing a highway, would be remanded into custody overnight to be brought before magistrates and have bail conditions imposed."

For many what was a "desperately upsetting" experience at the time had a lasting impact when years later looking for work and having to explain to prospective employers convictions revealed as a result of a criminal record check.

The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign has long called for an independent inquiry into the police operation at the coking plant near Rotherham and the “false charges” subsequently brought against striking miners.

About 100 people were injured and more than 90 pickets arrested of whom 55 were charged with riot – an offence that then carried a potential life sentence.

However the first of a series of court cases at Sheffield Crown Court collapsed and the remainder were abandoned.

In 1991, without admitting liability, South Yorkshire Police paid £425,000 in damages and £100,000 in costs to settle claims for unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution brought by 39 of those charged at Orgreave.

In its manifesto Labour pledged to ensure that through an "an investigation or inquiry, that the truth about the events at Orgreave comes to light”.

"It's 40 years ago now and many of the miners will still carry scars of criminal convictions. It is not something that can be pushed into the long grass," said Dr Gilmore who's sharing her findings with the Appeal charity, which investigates miscarriages of justice, including that of Andy Malkinson, who was jailed for 17 years for a rape he did not committ. At the free event starting at 2pm, Dr Gilmore will be joined by Lord John Hendy KC, Jane Deighton and Janet Allan, who will share their experiences as lawyers during the strike.