Miners' strike violence: police watchdog will not investigate

(Image credit: Getty)

published 12 June 2015

Police involved in the most violent clash of the 1984-85 miners' strike will not face a fresh investigation by the police watchdog – despite indications that some committed assault and perjury.Picketing miners and officers clashed on 18 June 1984 in what The Guardian describes as the "most bitter and infamous" confrontation of the strike. Around 8,000 pickets attempted to prevent coke from leaving the Orgreave coke works on the edge of Sheffield during their campaign against the government's plan to close pits, while 6,000 police tried to hold them back.More than 120 people were injured from both sides, and 95 miners were charged but later cleared.Nearly 30 years later, in 2013, South Yorkshire Police referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following a BBC documentary that claimed officers might have colluded in writing their court statements."There were questions in court about the reliability of the police evidence. Many of the statements made by officers were virtually identical," says the BBC's Dan Johnson. "At least one had a forged signature."But the IPCC, which has spent two years analysing thousands of documents, films and photographs, today said it will not investigate, despite accepting that there were "concerns about some of the actions of individual officers".The watchdog said its analysis suggested that there were indications of misconduct, including assault, perverting the course of justice by writing false statements and perjury in court.It explained that it would only be possible to bring disciplinary proceedings against officers still serving with the police, a cohort which is likely to be "vanishingly few" after 30 years.

"In addition, because the miners arrested at Orgreave were acquitted or no evidence offered, there are no miscarriages of justice due to alleged police failures for the IPCC to investigate," said the watchdog's deputy chair Sarah Green.