Welcome
Shrewsbury 24 campaign
The Road to the Court of Appeal
Building worker pickets (back row L-R) Bernard Williams, Kevin Butcher, Michael Pierce, Terry Renshaw and Ken O’Shea, (front row, L-R) Dawn and Melanie McKinsie Jones, Eileen Turnbull (Researcher) and Harry Chadwick (Chairperson).
Buy Des Warren’s book The Key to my Cell for £4 inc, p&p on the Merchandise page.
Important Updates
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. The Campaign’s solicitors’ Bindmans, submitted applications on their behalf and these have been accepted by the CCRC and join the other eight. The Campaign now represents 12 of the 22 convicted pickets (two were acquitted in 1974):
Des Warren, John McKinsie Jones and Ken O’Shea (Trial 1); Malcolm Clee, Alfred James, Michael Pierce and Samuel Warburton (Trial 2); Kevin Butcher, Terry Renshaw, Graham Roberts, John Kenneth Seaburg and Thomas Bernard Williams (Trial 3).
The CCRC’s press release also states that Arthur Murray and Ricky Tomlinson, who had withdrawn from the Campaign and the legal case in 2017, have now independently resubmitted their names to the CCRC. This was on the back of the success of the original eight pickets whose cases were referred to the Court of Appeal on 4 March 2020.
Due to the Court of Appeal’s backlog and the added impact of coronavirus on the listing of cases we do not expect an appeal hearing until the end of the year. We will keep all our affiliates updated.
The CCRC’s latest press release is here.
On behalf of the Campaign we wish you all well. Keep safe.
Eileen Turnbull Harry Chadwick
Secretary Chairperson
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…
Solidarity with Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign
The Shrewsbury 24 Campaign extends it support to the OTJC in their call for an Orgreave Independent Panel to be set up along the lines of the landmark Hillsborough Independent Panel.
These principled campaigners have worked tirelessly for years to uncover the truth about the events at the picket at Orgreave on 18 June 1984. On that day hundreds of miners were attacked and beaten by an army of police, including a mounted unit that charged down with batons on unarmed striking miners causing devastating injuries. The trial of the 95 miners that were arrested on that day collapsed when the union lawyers showed that the police evidence had been fabricated. The campaign wants to know the truth: who planned and gave the orders for the police attack on defenceless miners, who orchestrated the prosecutions. Without Truth there can be no Justice.
Further details can be found on the OTJC website.
Eileen Turnbull -Researcher & Secretary
Harry Chadwick – Chairperson
The Campaign
The Strike
The Pickets
