Johnson Partnership, Legal News

24/06/26

Artificial intelligence assistants will be trialled in Crown Courts for the first time to help judges and lawyers prepare criminal cases, under plans announced by the Ministry of Justice.

The technology will be tested as a tool to research and analyse case material, identify matters that are ready for trial and assist with administrative tasks. Officials have described the AI systems as "digital paralegals", capable of carrying out duties such as reviewing legal documents, summarising large volumes of evidence, researching legal precedents and helping to manage case files.

11/05/26

Murders inside prisons have reached their highest recorded level following a surge in extreme violence behind bars, according to new official figures.

Nine inmates were killed in prisons in the year to March, up from six the previous year, Ministry of Justice data shows. Among those attacked were notorious prisoners including Soham murderer Ian Huntley and former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins.

09/04/26

Police have brought nine charges against a man accused of driving into a group of people in Derby city centre.

Sandhu Ponnachan, 36, is due to appear in court on Wednesday facing six counts of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, one count of attempted GBH with intent, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of possessing a bladed article.

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".