FOI 59042

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 59042

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16 February 2021.  Please find below the response to your request:

I am looking into historical security, intelligence, and political threats during the 1980s.

I have come across police operations within the literature and archive files during this time called operation Shrewsbury around 1983/4 and operation periphery in 1984.

Under the FOI (2000) Act, these operations are well outside of both the 20 years and 30-year rule. Therefore, I am requesting the details of these operations and any other associated operations linked to these.

Operation Periphery has been associated to the Hilda Murrell case. However, Operation Shrewsbury may be too although I'm not quite a hundred percent sure. I found this one in a file relating to the miners strike 1984-5 but the way it appears was referred to by senior officers (ACPOs)as part of a strategy to be copied and developed in the mid stages of the strike which made me think that the operation may have taken place earlier and that's why I thought of the Murrell case. Shrewsbury may offer insights into intelligence cooperation that is why I'm keen to find its origins for my thesis.

Reply

Substantive searches for any recorded information have been undertaken and I can confirm that West Mercia Police does not hold any information in relation to your request.