Following the victory of the Shrewsbury 24 at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday 23 March 2021, an investigative report examining the foundations of Ground 2 of the appeal has been released today, alongside the grounds that made up our legal challenge.
Ground 2 consisted of new legal arguments relating to the screening of The Red Under the Bed, a TV programme highly critical of trade union organising, during the 1972 trial. Arguments included an analysis, applying modern standards of fairness, of the way the airing of the documentary was handled by the trial judge.
This report, commissioned by PILC and created by Eveline Lubbers of the Undercover Research Group, looks at the secret state. It examines the roles of MI5, the IRB and the IRIS. It begins to uncover who they are, what they do, who funds them and, cruciall,y the role they played in building up a false narrative and false evidence to support the conviction of the Shrewsbury 24. The report also contextualises these findings and examines the state’s fear of ‘the danger of communism’ after the Second World War.
Despite the Court of Appeal finding against Ground 2, there will be little doubt in the mind of readers of this report that the attack on the Shrewsbury 24, and trade-union organising as whole, dirtied the hands of the highest levels of government.
The report can be downloaded here.
Our grounds in the case can be downloaded here.
Update (6.4.21): The full appeal judgment can be downloaded here.
