Buy Des Warren’s book The Key to my Cell for £4 inc, p&p on the Merchandise page.

Important Updates

Kevin Butcher – scaffolder, trade unionist and Shrewsbury picket, May 2021

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Kevin Butcher, the eldest surviving Shrewsbury picket, at the age of 87. He was a staunch supporter of the campaign to achieve justice for all the Shrewsbury 24. Kevin was convicted in the third trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court. His contribution over the years was invaluable to us all. We are thankful that Kevin lived to see our historic victory at the Court of Appeal this year. He will be greatly missed. Our sincere condolences to all his family.

A full tribute will appear on this website later in the week.

Shrewsbury pickets’ win appeal – success for the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign.

The full Court of Appeal judgement is here.

See messages from Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary; Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary; and Howard Beckett, Unite Assistant General Secretary.

Elsa Warren, Des Warren’s former wife, gives her reaction to the Court of Appeal judgement.

The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign is delighted to announce that after 15 years we have finally achieved victory. The Court of Appeal has today quashed the convictions of the North Wales building workers who were tried for picketing offences in 1973-74. The lead picket, Des Warren was sent to prison for three years and blacklisted upon his release. As a result, he never worked again and died prematurely in 2004, aged 67.

Two of the other twelve pickets represented by the Campaign had also been imprisoned: John McKinsie Jones for 9 months and Michael Pierce for 6 months. The other pickets received suspended prison sentences.

Terry Renshaw, a member of the Campaign since its inception and who received a suspended sentence, spoke for all the pickets,

We never thought that we would see this day, when this miscarriage of justice was overturned. The Court of Appeal has acknowledged that we did not receive a fair trial. The police and the prosecuting authorities used every trick in the book to secure guilty verdicts even if it meant trampling over our rights and
manipulating the evidence.

On behalf of all the pickets I would like to pay tribute to the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign, without whom we would never have achieved this victory. In particular we owe a great debt to our Researcher, Eileen Turnbull, for working tirelessly to obtain the crucial evidence that got our case to the Court of Appeal
and brought about our victory.

Harry Chadwick, the Chairperson and founding member of the Campaign, was equally overjoyed.

We have overcome tremendous obstacles to reach this day. We could not have
done it without the support of the TUC, the trade union and labour movement.
This is an historic victory for all working people.

The Campaign’s Researcher and Secretary, Eileen Turnbull, paid tribute to the eight pickets who stood firm,

I am particularly happy for the eight pickets who stood with the Campaign, through all the tough times: John McKinsie Jones, Malcom Clee, Michael Pierce, Terry Renshaw, Kevin Butcher, Bernard Williams and the families of the late Des Warren and Ken O’Shea. Their tenacity and belief in our case was an inspiration.

Their quest for justice for all the pickets never waned.

Eileen Turnbull
Secretary & Researcher

Harry Chadwick
Chairperson

Shrewsbury 24 Appeal Court Hearing 3rd and 4th February 2021

We have just spent two historic days in the Royal Courts of Justice, where three appeal court judges heard the appeals of the pickets. Terry Renshaw and John McKinsie Jones joined Campaign Researcher and Secretary, Eileen Turnbull, Campaign Chairperson Harry Chadwick, and Mark Turnbull campaign member in Court 4 to watch proceedings.

Terry and John said on the steps of the court, “We have waited over 47 years for this day and nothing would have stopped us getting to London for the hearing”.

The campaign had instructed Bindmans solicitors, the leading Human Rights lawyers. Our legal team was headed by Danny Friedman QC of Matrix Chambers and junior counsel Ben Newton. Jamie Potter and Kate Goodman, senior partners at Bindmans, were also in attendance.

Danny was on his feet for the whole of the first day, addressing the three appeal court judges. All of the evidence which was used in court was obtained by the Campaign’s researcher, Eileen Turnbull, over a period of 12 years. Danny said that the pickets were denied a fair trial on two grounds.

Firstly, the police told their prosecution team that they had destroyed a number of original witness statements. This was not made known to the defence or the judge. It denied the pickets’ lawyers from questioning witnesses about their earlier recollection of people and events on the building sites visited by the pickets.

Secondly, a highly prejudicial documentary was broadcast on ITV half-way through the trial, Red under the Bed. The judge failed to ask jury members if they had seen it and, if they had, should have taken further action, which might have included discharging the jury.

Danny Friedman gave an excellent account of our case in court.

The court has reserved its decision and when we receive the judgment, we shall let all our supporters know on this website.

If you require any further information about the appeal hearing or the Campaign please email us at: 24@shrewsbury24campaign.org.uk.

Shrewsbury pickets’ case in Court of Appeal, 3-4 February 2021

We are delighted to confirm that the pickets appeal will be heard on 3 and 4 February 2021 at the Court of Appeal in the Royal Courts of Justice, London.

Read more…

Read an article from the Morning Start 30/01/2021.

New Year update 2021

On behalf of the Shrewsbury pickets and the campaign committee we wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for the support that you have given to us over the past fourteen years. As you know, we have never given up our quest for justice for the pickets. Against all odds, we have succeeded in having their unjust convictions referred to the Court of Appeal.

We have been informed that the Court of Appeal has ‘pencilled in’ the pickets’ appeal for 3rd and 4th February 2021. This date could change due to the effects of Covid-19 on the operation of the courts and the restrictions that the Government put in place. Should it go ahead on those dates, it is likely that there will be restrictions on attendance at the hearing but we will not know until nearer the time.

When we have any further information about the date of hearing and the court’s arrangements, we will post a further update on our website and write to all our trade union affiliates and supporters.

Thank you all for your continuing support we really appreciate it. We are nearly there.

Best wishes

Solidarity

Eileen Turnbull
Secretary and Researcher

Harry Chadwick
Campaign Chairperson

17 June, 2020 – My memories of Des Warren, building worker and trade unionist by Harry Chadwick.

16 June, 2020, The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign’s annual rally is to streamed live on their Facebook page at 1pm, Saturday 20th June. Read more here.

Supporting Orgreave at the Labour Party conference 2019.

4 June, 2020, Terry Renshaw has written a piece for today’s Morning Star, ‘More Shrewsbury pickets’ cases referred to the Court of Appeal’. You can read it online here.

26 May 2020, CCRC refers more Shrewsbury pickets to the Court of Appeal

Following four new applications from the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign we are pleased to announce that the Criminal Cases Review Commission has now referred their convictions to the Court of Appeal. Supporters will remember that on 4 March 2020 the CCRC finally referred the convictions of eight pickets and invited applications from any others. From the beginning of the campaign we had tried to involve all the convicted pickets but many did not want to make an application because of the demonization that they had experienced in 1973-74 which led to many of them being blacklisted.

We are delighted that the families of four deceased pickets, Alfred James, Samuel Roy Warburton, Graham Roberts and John Kenneth Seaburg asked us to have their names cleared.

Read more…

4 March 2020, Shrewsbury Pickets Win At CCRC

The Criminal Cases Review Commission has today finally agreed to refer the convictions of the Shrewsbury pickets to the Court of Appeal. Eight of the North Wales building workers who were jailed or received suspended prison sentences in 1973-74, will now get the chance to show that they suffered a miscarriage of justice. They are Des Warren, John McKinsie Jones, Ken O’Shea, Michael Pierce, Terry Renshaw, Kevin Butcher, Malcolm Clee and Bernard Williams.

The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign has worked tirelessly since 2006 to publicise the case and gain support from trade unions and the Labour Party. The Campaign’s Researcher and Secretary, Eileen Turnbull, travelled throughout the UK to find the fresh evidence necessary to persuade the CCRC to refer the case to the appeal court. The documents that Turnbull unearthed now form the basis for the appeal.

Read more about the CCRC decision.

Ian Prowse has made a video for the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign of his cover of Alun Parry’s song My Name Is Dessie Warren. Read more…