Johnson Partnership, Legal News

19/03/26

The first cyclist in Britain to be convicted of manslaughter for hitting and killing a pedestrian has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Clifford Cage, 50, admitted the manslaughter of James Blackwood, 91, in Rochester. Mr Blackwood, a great-grandfather and retired Royal Engineer, was struck by Cage's e-bike while putting his bins out on the pavement outside his home in July 2023.

10/02/26

Britain's most dangerous extremist prisoners will be housed in new "supermax" units modelled on those used in US prisons, Justice Secretary David Lammy has announced.

Under the proposals, offenders would spend almost all their time in solitary confinement, eating, exercising and sleeping alone under an ultra-secure regime comparable to ADX Florence in Colorado — the prison known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies".

15/01/26

A police officer who attempted to sanction a woman accused of illegally foraging for mushrooms committed gross misconduct, a disciplinary hearing has found. Christopher Vickers would have been dismissed had he not already left Leicestershire Police, a misconduct panel ruled.

In 2024, Louise Gather, from Derby, visited Bradgate Park in Leicestershire to search for magpie inkcap mushrooms. Police were alerted by a member of the public who reported seeing her carrying a knife and feared she was removing potentially poisonous fungi.

17/12/25

Police forces are testing AI technology designed to identify and track "suspicious" journeys by drivers.

The system uses an app that analyses data from automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to flag vehicles potentially linked to criminal activity. Known as the "find and profile" app, it can map routes and pinpoint journeys that police may choose to stop. While it has so far been used primarily to detect suspects involved in "county lines" drug operations, documents obtained by Liberty Investigates and The Telegraph indicate that police see potential for wider deployment.

25/11/25

A zero-alcohol limit for drivers would have strong public backing, a new survey suggests. Most people believe the current legal threshold should be abolished entirely, banning motorists from consuming even a single drink before driving.

Nearly three in five adults (58 per cent) and more than half of drivers (55 per cent) said it is now "socially unacceptable" to drive after drinking, even when within the existing legal limits. The findings come as police chiefs and the British Medical Association renew calls to tighten alcohol rules—a change that could put drivers over the limit after just one pint.

The poll of 2,000 Britons, including 1,300 drivers, found that almost two thirds (61 per cent) do not trust themselves to drive safely after drinking, even if they remain within the legal limit. The current threshold—80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood—was set in 1967 and is roughly equivalent to two pints of lager.

Campaigners are pushing to lower the limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to 50mg per 100ml of blood, bringing it into line with Scotland and reducing the allowance to around one pint of medium-strength beer. But pub owners warn the move could be devastating for rural hospitality.

Stosie Madi, landlady and chef at the Parkers Arms in remote Newton-in-Bowland, Lancashire, fears the proposal could spell a "death sentence for the country pub". She said: "While aimed at road safety, this change risks delivering a fatal hit to rural pubs."

Research by Direct Line also found that two in five people (41 per cent) support lowering the limit to match Scotland's regulations, while more than eight in ten (84 per cent) agree the safest approach is to avoid alcohol altogether before driving.

Drinking habits among younger generations are already shifting. In a separate Kantar survey, 59 per cent of Generation Z respondents said they had not consumed alcohol at all in the past year.