Orgreave beating file potentially destroyed by police

Documents destroyed by police relating to their operations at Orgreave during the miners' strike in 1984 are believed to include a report on a notorious incident in which an officer beat a man over the head with a truncheon.

- David Conn

In footage shown on ITV's News at Ten at the time, PC Martin of Northumbria police was seen hitting Russell Broomhead several times with his truncheon.

Northumbria police has been widely criticised since confirming that it destroyed two boxes of documents relating to the strike and the Orgreave operation in April last year. That was just months before a general election that the Labour party, which had a longstanding pledge to hold an inquiry into events at Orgreave, was expected to win.

The timing led to accusations that the force had destroyed the documents to avoid scrutiny of their officers' actions.

On 18 June 1984, an estimated 8,000 miners assembled at the Orgreave coking plant in Rotherham for a mass picket called by the National Union of Mineworkers. They were met by 4,500 police officers from forces nationwide, led by South Yorkshire police.