Over forty years after the Battle of Orgreave, in which police brutally attacked striking miners, the Government has finally conceded to the demand for a Public Inquiry. Paul Winter, who was arrested there that day, aged 19, sets out what he wants from it.

In the first weeks of the strike I was able to travel on hired coaches to pits in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Upon arrival our branch officials were allowed on to colliery premises to speak to the workforces. This resulted in early successes for us flying pickets, as men were prepared to join us when peacefully picketed. This quickly came to an end when police began to set up road blocks preventing pickets travelling to other counties. Was this a directive of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary who both claimed the dispute was between us and the coal board?

The blockades described above led to my arrest and fine in June 1984. After leaving mining in 1993 I took on varying jobs in education all requiring a DBS check. In 1994, 2007, 2017 and 2020 all the checks came back with the arrest (my only ever arrest) on them. It’s only when I asked for my arrest details to be sent by Nottinghamshire Police as a Freedom of Information request (done on behalf of Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign) that they miraculously disappeared from my last DBS check. Was this a deliberate government plot to try and scupper post mining employment?

After the roadblocks began to appear, we tried, mainly unsuccessfully, to keep our destination secret in a bid to foil the police. It became clear that senior union officials had their phones tapped (there were no mobiles then) as the police were more often than not a step ahead. 

Prior to June 18^th, in contrast to this, Arthur Scargill spoke at a rally and asked everyone available to go to Orgreave that day. Given that they had around 6,000 policemen at their disposal and miners were travelling from across the country, why were there no road blocks that day?

Why were we told where to park and directed to the field where the ensuing battle commenced?

Why were horses and dogs deployed that day when I hadn’t seen them on previous picket lines. Why were the police carrying long and short riot shields and long batons, not previously seen? 

Why were police identity numbers missing from their shoulder straps?

Policemen cannot generally march correctly in groups or even turn in the right direction all at once due to their lack of military-style training. How then did they manage to part in such an organised fashion for the three cavalry charges I witnessed? What military training and military assistance were they given during that strike? 

How much were ‘spy-cops’ used to infiltrate mining communities and the union?

Why were the police statements regarding the 95 arrests partially dictated, as with Hillsborough some years later, so they all sounded similar?

And the final elephant in the room is: how come the BBC showed the extensive stone throwing before the cavalry charges when the reverse was the case?

What has to be noted is that it’s not the miners who are on trial this time. All our evidence has been replayed in countless interviews, speeches and documentary films. It is the police, the media and the Government on trial this time!

Paul Winter is a former striking miner, a veteran of the Battle of Orgreave and a supporter of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.

Image: Author: Jamain, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.