Police destruction of miner strike files likely to be examined
PAA public inquiry is likely to investigate whether a police force's destruction of documents related to the miners' strike was legal or not.
Information about the so-called Battle of Orgreave was said to be among two boxes disposed of by Northumbria Police in April 2024, which the force later investigated. However, the force declined to release its findings due to the opening of the The Orgreave Inquiry.
A list of provisional issues the inquiry says it wants to clarify includes the extent to which evidence about Orgreave is "no longer available".
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign secretary Kate Flannery said she did not understand the police force's decision to not release its findings.
The violent clash in June 1984 outside a coking plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire, led to many miners being injured and arrested, although their trials later collapsed.
Thousands of miners were bussed to the coking works on 18 June 1984 by the National Union of Mineworkers, where they were met by an estimated 6,000 police officers from across the country.
At least 120 miners and police officers were injured in the violence and 95 picketers were arrested.
PAA statutory public inquiry into the day's events was launched in March.
In July, the list of provisional issues it would seek to clarify was produced, including whether Orgreave evidence is "no longer available" and "whether it is missing, destroyed, withheld or unaccounted for".
The inquiry will also investigate "the reasons for, and lawfulness, of any evidence destruction".
A spokesperson for the inquiry said it could not provide any more details on its investigation as it was ongoing.
Northumbria Police said it had completed its investigation into the destruction of its Orgreave evidence in January but the ongoing inquiry meant it could not provide more details.
Flannery said it should be in Northumbria Police's interest to "let the public know why they destroyed documents".
"What are they trying to hide and why do we have to wait for the inquiry to conclude before we find out more information from them?" she asked.
The police declined to respond to Flannery's comments.
According to a 2016 Northumbria Police letter to a parliamentary committee, the force then possessed 15 documents related to Orgreave.
One report detailed an incident involving a police constable, it said.
"This officer was believed to have been involved in striking a 'picket' with his truncheon," the letter read.
