IPCC refuses to launch a formal enquiry into Orgreave

12 June 2015

After a two year delay, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has announced it will not launch an enquiry into the police brutality against miners on strike at Orgreave in South Yorkshire.

Despite the fact that it has found evidence that police officers assaulted miners on the picket lines at Orgreave during the 1984-85 miners’ strike, the IPCC will not follow through with a formal investigation.

The IPCC also found evidence that police perverted the course of justice and committed perjury in the failed prosecutions which followed. The charges were dropped and South Yorkshire Police was forced to pay out £425,000 in compensation to the defamed miners. No police officer was ever prosecuted.

In a report published by the IPCC, it claims that too much time has passed since the event for the allegations to be pursued.

Former NUM president, Ian Lavery MP, described the report as “a nonsense and a whitewash”.

Kevin Horne, one of the acquitted miners and a member of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, commented; “Nobody has ever been held to account, and now the IPCC has said they cannot do it, we believe there should be a public inquiry and full disclosure of what happened. The fight will go on.”

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This decision is a hammer blow for the Orgreave families who have fought for over 30 years to get justice. They have displayed huge courage and tenacity in trying to hold the authorities to account.

“It is shameful that no-one will have to answer for the events of that day, which left dozens injured and many locked up for simply exercising their right to protest.

“There should be a full public inquiry into what happened at Orgreave. This is a bad day for all those who care about civil liberties.”