Orgreave inquiry formally under way into policing during miners’ strike

The violence at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 has become notorious, with police charging miners on horseback and hitting men over the head with truncheons. Photograph: Trevor Smith/Alamy

The government has announced the formal start of the promised official inquiry into the violent policing at the Orgreave coking plant during the 1984-85 miners’ strike and the discredited prosecutions of 95 men that followed.

Yvette Cooper, who was then the home secretary, announced the inquiry in July with Pete Wilcox, the bishop of Sheffield, as the chair. The government has since worked on appointing an expert panel to consider the evidence.