Johnson Partnership, Legal News

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".

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.