Solidarity with the Shrewsbury 24 in their recent Court of Appeal Hearing

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers stands in solidarity with and supports the Shrewsbury Pickets in their recent Court of Appeal hearing, heard on 3rd and 4th February 2021.

It should be noted that this appeal hearing has been long awaited, hard won, and the culmination of tireless, committed campaigning on behalf of the individuals affected, the Shrewsbury 24 Campaign and others. The case concerns building workers from North Wales who were prosecuted for picketing during the 1972 national building workers strike. Five months after the strike ended 24 pickets were picked up and charged with over 200 offences, including unlawful assembly, intimidation, affray, and six of the pickets were also charged with conspiracy to intimidate. As a result of the disputed charges, six received prison sentences and sixteen received suspended prison sentences. This is despite their consistently maintained innocence of all charges, and serious issues surrounding the fairness of their original court proceedings. Alarmingly, original witness statements were found to have been destroyed by the police and concealed from defence counsel and the court. Furthermore, the fairness of their trials was undermined through the broadcast of a highly prejudicial documentary on ITV during the first trial, which was contributed to by a covert agency within the Foreign Office.

Our Chair, Declan Owens, states the following:

‘The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers is proud of its history of solidarity with the trade union movement; a movement which has done so much to advance the material interests and wellbeing of the working class in this country and worldwide.

We're proud of the work that our Executive Committee member, Paul Heron, and Public Interest Law Centre have done in pursuing justice for Ricky Tomlinson and Arthur Murray, which has contributed so much to the campaign for justice for the Shrewsbury 24. We featured Ricky in the 74th edition of our magazine, “Socialist Lawyer”, in October 2016 where he was wearing his t-shirt entitled, "The State killed my mate. RIP Dezzie."

We look forward to this miscarriage of justice being addressed for those affected by the Court of Appeal and we pay tribute to Dezzie Warren and his family. The "enemy within" this country has always been the establishment, their political supporters and those who conspire against trade unionists and socialists. Solidarity with the Shrewsbury 24.’

Please join Haldane in support of the Shrewsbury Pickets on social media through Twitter, using the #Shrewsbury24C hashtag.

For more information please visit: https://www.shrewsbury24campaign.org.uk/