I understand the issues. I worked at a university where my duties included capital equipment inventory. I had regular conversations with researchers on why they were keeping equipment that was no longer actively in use - & it was usually because of compatibility issues & ability to retrieve old data.
CRU should certainly have put a call out to other researchers for assistance in maintaining this data. It should be treated as a scientific crime & every one of them should lose their positions!
This is not just a “scientific crime”.
Considering the intent of those that are perpetuating this fraud, it’s a crime against humanity.
They intended to use their “conclusions” to rob people and force them to change their behaviors to suit the whims and preferences of the “elite ruling class”.
Such a reduction of lifestyle would increase human suffering and death. This is a crime on the level of genocide.