Ricky Tomlinson to appeal conviction from 48 years ago
The Royle Family star is attempting to overturn his conviction in the Court of Appeal
Ricky Tomlinson
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EVERY trade unionist, socialist and campaigner should be alarmed by state involvement in “criminalising” the Shrewsbury 24 builders’ strike pickets, Ricky Tomlinson said today after the Court of Appeal hearing into the 1973 convictions.
The court heard that a TV documentary highly critical of the 1972 national building workers’ strike could not have been produced without state complicity, including provision of information by government departments and the involvement of the “secret services.”
The documentary, Red Under the Bed, aired during the first of three jury trials of the Shrewsbury 24.
The Royle Family actor, one of the convicted pickets, is now calling for a public inquiry into government involvement.
Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson hopes to overturn criminal conviction from almost 50 years ago
The actor lived in Wrexham around the time of the incident
17:24, 4 FEB 2021
Ricky Tomlinson is among a group of 14 appealing their convictions from the early 1970s (Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)
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MI5 helped make deeply prejudicial propaganda documentary broadcast during 1973 trials of the Shrewsbury 24 trade unionists including Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, court hears
Members of Shrewsbury 24 which include Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, are trying to overturn convictions for offences including unlawful assembly
Group were construction workers who picketed building sites in Shrewsbury during the 1972 national builders strike in a bid to improve working conditions
Two-day hearing set to take place at Court of Appeal where lawyers representing 14 of the group s members will argue that their convictions should be quashed
The legal team say a documentary aired during the original trials was deeply prejudicial and mean convictions are unsafe and should be quashed as a result
POLICE deliberately destroyed witness statements relating to striking building workers the Shrewsbury 24 in the 1970s because they were taken “before officers knew what they were trying to prove,” the Court of Appeal was told today.
And “higher echelons of the state” were involved in production of a “deeply prejudicial” TV programme which was broadcast during the first of the trials in 1973, the court was told.
The trials resulted in convictions of the 24 on charges including conspiracy to intimidate, unlawful assembly and affray.
Six people Des Warren, Ricky Tomlinson, John McKinsie Jones, Brian Williams, Arthur Murray and Mike Pierce were sent to prison for periods ranging from three years to six months. Others suffered lesser sentences.