Calls grow for investigation into miners’ strike convictions

Published on 13/12/2012 12:00

A BID to launch an independent investigation into the convictions of almost 500 Scottish miners during the 1984-85 strike has won fresh backing.

Midlothian MP David Hamilton and Lothians MSP Neil Findlay had already urged Justice Secretary Kenny McAskill to launch a review into each of the convictions made during the dispute.

The plea came after it emerged that some police statements in England during the period of the strike may have been manipulated, possibly leading to wrongful arrests and convictions.

Now former Labour leader Iain Gray and East Lothian MP Fiona O’Donnell have also written to Mr McAskill to back calls for an independent probe.

Mr Gray said: “Nearly 30 years on from the miners’ strike, I know that many people in East Lothian’s former mining communities still feel aggrieved about the way striking miners were treated by the police and the courts.”