31/10/2016 Look North (Yorkshire)

And we are in for a change, it is getting a lot colder. The forecast

shortly. Yorkshire's mining communithes have

reacted angrily tonight to the Home Secretary's dechsion not

to hold an inquiry into the violent clashes between police and striking

miners at Orgreave in 1984. For more than three decades,

campaigners have demanded the truth Our political editor

Len Tingle reports. At Barnsley's National union

of Mineworkers headquarters today, the news that there will be no

inquiry into Orgreave was met with a mixture

of anger and defiance. It says in the statement

that there were no deaths or wrongful prosecutions,

so a police force can get away with doing whatever they want

as long as nobody loses thehr life. What became known as the Battle

of Orgreave was a pivotal moment in a miners' strike that had been

going on for four months. On June the 18th, 1984,

an estimated 5000 pickets protested to stop anything getting

into or out of the giant coking Police were well aware

of what was happening, and 6000 uniformed officers

were brought in. The clashes that followed over

the next few hours had never been seen in an industrial dispute

in Britain before. It was later likened

to a medieval battle. Arthur Scargill, the miners' leader

during that year-long strikd, He's always said the facts

of the police operation havd been That reason should be exposdd,

and the only way you can do that is to disclose

all the documentation both from the Government

and from South Yorkshire Police What the demand for an inquhry

is is a demand to rerun the allegations of police brutality,

but the television film shows That a big bunch of thugs,

Scargill's storm pickets, turned up to prevent

men from going to work, to prevent lorries driving

in and out of the coke works. And they were intending to do

that by force. There were 95 arrests

of pickets, all acquitted. Those calling for an inquirx said it

might finally settle why It took an investigation by the BBC

as late as three years ago that those acquittals in 1985

were no mere legal technicalities. Dozens of written statements came

to light made by arresting officers at the time and presented

as evidence at those Reporter Dan Johnson noticed

a remarkable similarity. We got hold of around 100 police

statements from Orgreave, and what you find in

them is fascinating. Eventually the pickets

were repelled and they retrdated. In turning down an Orgreave inquiry

today, the Government said policing had changed

so much in three decades, there was nothing more

for the forces to learn. But even this week, Tony Mundy,

one of those hundreds of police officers bused into Orgreavd

from around the country, came back for the first timd and met

campaigners to explain how those A South Yorkshire detective stood up

and then said, right, this is an instruction,

not a request. These phrases, these sentences,

must go into every statement So a number of us, including myself,

said, what's going on here? And it came back, no,

this is from the top. Campaigners are still convinced

that an inquiry would uncover embarrassing facts

for the Government and the police, deliberately heavy-handed t`ctics

on the day, and a systematic campaign for decades

to discredit miners. They say the parallels

with the Hillsborough disaster five And they won't stop campaigning

for that full inquiry. Today's announcement has rahsed

questions about the future In the Commons, there were renewed

calls in the Commons for thd force to be merged with West Yorkshire

Police. Would my right honourable friend

along with my honourable frhend the policing minister meet with me

to have a serious discussion about whether South Yorkshire Police

and West Yorkshire Police c`n be merged to become Yorkshire Police so

that the name South Yorkshire Police does not do an injustice

to the officers who are bravely putting their lives

on the line every day. I thank my answerable friend for his

question, and I can agree that we will meet with him to discuss it.

South Yorkshire Police is under new leadership, and I am hopeful it can

make progress, and my honourable friend the policing minister spoke

today to the PCC in order to explain the decision the Government has come

to. Well, tonight South Yorkshire's

Police and Crime Commissiondr said there was no appetite for a merger,

and that he was disappointed about the announcement as hd felt

an inquiry could have shown a change I saw this as an opportunitx,

and I think the present Chief Constable saw it

as an opportunity to show how they were being not defensive,

not self-justifying but willing I will meet the campaign group

and see where we can go frol there, whether there is anything wd can

retrieve from this to show that First of all, how big a surprise was

this decision? For the past two years, the Government, firstly David

Cameron as Prime Minister and latterly Amber Rudd as Home

Secretary, have encouraged the Orgreave activists to sending

information about why they think there ought to be an inquirx, so

right up until the 11th hour, they thought it wasn't a case of whether

there would be an inquiry or what sort of inquiry it would be, say

flat refusal was a big shock. And tonight talk of the merger between

South and West Yorkshire Police Will we see consequences of

Orgreave? It is not the first time Orgreave? It is not the first time

that mergers have been menthoned. Alex Schalk broke before today

mentioned it. But in 2006, the Labour Government said let's merge

or four Yorkshire police authorities. The suggestion then was

that that would be too big `nd unwieldy. What the opponents of

today's suggestion are saying is that it is South Yorkshire Police

they think is the problem, `nd if there is a change, it would be a

rebranding exercise, and wotldn t solve any problems at all. Len

Tingle, thank you so much for that date. In other news:

One of the largest compensation claims against the Catholic

church is under way at the High Court in Leeds.

More than 200 men claim they were abused at St Willham's

residential school in Market Weighton.

Those running the home at the time have apologised "unreservedly"

to those affected by the abtse and for the actions

of its former principal, as Caroline Bilton reports.

I didn't deserve what they did to me.

Nigel Feeley was 13 when he was sent to the Catholic-run

On the outskirts of Market Weighton in east Yorkshire, it was rtn

by the De La Salle order, on behalf of the

Nigel was one of many boys abused by the former

He started coming round and touching, like doctors do.

You couldn't scream at him `nd say, go away, get off me,

James Carragher is currentlx serving his third prison sentence

He was principal there from 1976 until 1990.

But documents seen by the BBC's Inside Out programme suggest

the abuse started in the 1970s, and those running

Carragher was subject to an internal investigation on April 6th 0970

In 1983, another disciplinary after he physically assaultdd a boy.

If a person with more scruples had got in earlier and done a proper

investigation, Carragher wotld have been kicked out of the placd

Neither the De La Salle orddr or the diocese of Middlesbrough have

responded to these allegations, but in statements, the De L` Salle

offered an unreserved apology to those affected

They say they deeply regret what happened.

The diocese says these offences are historic and they are a matter

of profound regret for which they apologise.

Both reiterated they now have robust safeguarding policies in pl`ce.

Today a civil case for compdnsation has started at the

Victims are holding a small protest outside the court. For them, today

has been a long time coming. Caroline Bilton, Leeds.

A gang of bikers closed a m`jor route in to Leeds city centre this

evening after a Halloween event organised on social media.

Around 50 people on off-road motorcycles and quad bikes brought

Police closed the road until the group had dispersdd.

The force's helicopter was involved for a time,

Post on social media show the bikes riding through a pedestrianhsed

area. We will be seeing some cold air

flowing down from the north, and that starts tonight. Dense patches

of fog by first thing tomorrow morning, along with some patchy

rain, lows between seven and 10 Celsius. That makes its way down

towards the south, and we whll hang onto a lot of that missed. Don't be

surprised if some of it is still sticking around by the time we get

to the afternoon. As you can see, it is right, things will get a lot

better as we had through thd day, with some sunny spells, but don t

expect the sunshine to have a big impact on the temperatures. We are

only looking at ten or 11 Cdlsius again tomorrow, and that northerly

breeze will be chilly. The high pressure will keep things sdttled,

and at least drive. I leave you side. Strong northerly winds, some

sunshine and also some rain for the weekend. The National weather coming

up now with Louise. Halloween 2 16 has almost come and gone but it has

left some spookily interesting statistics. It has been a third

consecutive mild Halloween. The warmest was in 2014, 20 four

Celsius. Today we have been breaking records in Wales, the warmest

Halloween, 22 Celsius. A glorious shot, fairly indicative of what we

had in Wales today, sent in by weather watcher earlier. A different

story further north and east. The cloud made it great and in the

Northern Isles temperatures didn't climb above nine Celsius. It is as

cold air set to descend south through the course of the