that an inquiry should be held into what had happened. Sabido later claimed that when he went back to the ITN library to look at the rushes, most of the footage had "disappeared, particularly some of the nastier shots." Some of this missing footage was later rediscovered and incorporated into Operation Solstice a documentary shown on Channel 4 in 1991. Nick Davies reported for the Observer that "There was glass breaking, people screaming, black smoke towering out of burning caravans and everywhere there seemed to be people being bashed and flattened and pulled by the hair. Men, women and children were led away, shivering, swearing, crying, bleeding, leaving their homes in pieces." Freelance photographer Ben Gibson, engaged by The Observer that day, was arrested and charged with obstructing a police officer. He was later acquitted. Another freelance photographer, Tim Malyon, had to flee at one point. Legal action Twenty-four of the travellers sued Wiltshire Police for wrongful arrest, assault and criminal damage to themselves and their property. Six years after the event a verdict was reached. Twenty-one of the travellers were successful in their case and were awarded £24,000 in damages towards their false imprisonment, damage to property and wrongful arrest. The judge declined to award their legal costs and their compensation consequently went towards paying for this. Their barrister, Lord Gifford QC, stated "It left a very sour taste in the mouth." In court, individual police officers were difficult to identify, as they had hidden their identification numbers on the day. Despite this, one police sergeant was convicted of an assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a member of the Convoy. Police radio and video was used as evidence during the court case, however there was a recording gap in both the radio and video recordings. The recording gap in the video footage was allegedly due to the video tape breaking when the convoy was initially halted at the roadblock. There was also evidence that radio logs of conversations between officers on the day of the battle had been altered. The Earl of Cardigan testified in court against Wiltshire Police. His testimony proved vital in supporting the allegation that police violence had been excessive. He was criticised by several national newspapers for acting as a witness against Wiltshire Police; Bill Deedes' editorial in The Daily Telegraph claimed he was a class traitor. Consequently, the Earl successfully sued for defamation.