Adam Johnson manslaughter case: Explaining the legal delays

It’s almost one year since Nottingham Panthers ice hockey player Adam Johnson died after he was cut in the neck by a skate worn by an opponent.

His death, which occurred on October 28 last year in a cup match against the Sheffield Steelers at the city’s Utilita Arena in front of 8,000 spectators, left the ice hockey world in shock and prompted changes around the sport’s safety measures, specifically on the use of neck guards.

But while the sport has tried to move on while honouring Johnson’s memory, in Britain, the legal case surrounding the 29-year-old’s death has made little progress.

On November 14, a man was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and then bailed by South Yorkshire Police, who did not name him. Since then, his bail has been extended on five separate occasions by police, but he has not been charged with any offence.

As the anniversary of Johnson’s death draws near, where exactly has the case got to? What could be the reason for such delays? And when might we expect a resolution?

---

What happened after the initial arrest?

After his initial arrest on November 14, the unnamed man — in the UK, those arrested are not normally named until they are charged — was released on police bail until February.

Speaking to The Athletic at the time, South Yorkshire Police said the man had to remain in the United Kingdom.

In a statement issued on November 15, detective chief superintendent Becs Horsfall explained the complex nature of the case and how the force had been “speaking to highly specialised experts in their field” to aid their investigation.

Meanwhile, an inquest into Johnson’s death was opened on November 3 but suspended on January 26 by Sheffield coroner Tanyka Rawden as the police investigation was still active.

She said that suspension would last until July unless South Yorkshire Police decided they would not charge the man.

She did, however, call for all ice hockey players to wear neck guards in a report she wrote on the prevention of future deaths.

In the wake of the tragedy, the English Ice Hockey Association (all levels of ice hockey in the United Kingdom below the top league) made use of neck guards mandatory from January 1, 2024. The International Ice Hockey Federation (which oversees tournaments, including at the Olympics) and the Elite League (the UK’s top flight) followed suit.

However, as The Athletic reported in December 2023, that does not apply to the NHL.

GO DEEPER

What are hockey neck guard rules around the world?

What came next?

Since then, the man arrested has been bailed five times by South Yorkshire Police: on February 9, April 25, May 14, June 26 and September 2. His current bail extends until November 11.

On the last bail announcement, a spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “Our investigation is ongoing and our thoughts remain with Adam’s family.”

What could be the cause of delays? Are they common in cases of this nature?

This case is particularly unusual.

It is rare for the British police and legal authorities to get involved in sporting matters — Matt Slater looked at this question in detail for The Athletic in January — and that is likely to be one of the reasons for the continual delays.

“This is an unusual set of circumstances,” Patrick Maguire, a partner and head of the London office of law firm Horwich Cohen Coghlan, told The Athletic. “It’s not something the police will be used to dealing with and given the unusual nature of the circumstances, I suspect as part of their investigation they are seeking some sort of expert evidence on whether the incident which resulted in Adam’s death was reckless to a criminal standard.

“So I suspect that is causing the delay because getting that expert evidence won’t be straightforward.”

According to Maguire, these experts would involve people in the field of ice hockey, such as a former referee, those involved on the rules committee or someone connected to English ice hockey’s governing body.

Mark Jones, a professor of sports law at Manchester Metropolitan University, agreed with Maguire’s assessment.

“It’s a really unusual case in just about every aspect,” Jones told The Athletic. “The difficulty here is trying to actually find anything that could prove this beyond reasonable doubt.

“My assumption is the police are simply finding it almost impossible to get a clear-cut answer on any of this and can’t get anything approaching consistency from the experts.”

Hannah Kent, a senior associate in the dispute resolution team at Onside Law, told The Athletic it’s very uncommon to see cases like this within a sporting context.

“It’s quite extreme and obviously a very tragic case that someone’s actually passed away as a result of something that’s happened on the ice,” she said. “It will be a question (for the police) of reviewing footage, interpreting what happened, speaking to witnesses and consulting experts — all of that can take time. There are lots of different moving parts.”

“It is unusual for someone to be bailed on this many occasions, but that has to be balanced with the complexity of the case,” Adam Pendlebury, a senior lecturer in law at Edge Hill University, told The Athletic. “The key point will be around the consent (that by playing sport, participants ‘implicitly consent’ to a certain level of risk) but to understand that, you have to understand the culture of ice hockey.

“What is the point where it goes beyond consent to the point it becomes criminal?”

What is the process being followed?

Once the police have finished their investigation, they will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to hand it over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

As a death is involved, it will normally be down to the CPS to decide whether to charge and bring a prosecution. They will look at two things — first, whether there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of success and, second, if the prosecution is in the public interest.

“I imagine that the public interest will be quite a big factor they will need to think through because of how rare it is in sport that something like this happens,” Kent said.

Can the arrested man be rebailed indefinitely?

No. In general, an arrested person can be bailed for three-month periods by the police for up to nine months. This can be extended to 12 months if police make an application to a magistrates’ court.

Beyond that, the court can make an order for a further extension to bail.

When is a resolution most likely?

“There’s no time limit on it,” Maguire said. “Some of the cases that I’ve been involved in, non-sports related but involving fatalities, have taken three to four years to get to a final trial. And obviously they won’t be able to be in a position to consider whether to pursue the manslaughter charge until such time as all the evidence is available and the investigation has been completed.

“My experience is the more complex the circumstances, the longer the criminal proceedings take to run their course.”

Kent agrees a definite end date is impossible to pin down and makes the point that the UK legal system is currently facing a huge backlog of cases as a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK’s National Audit Office said in May 2024 that there were 67,573 Crown Court cases waiting to be heard.

“Without being involved in the investigation, you just can’t say when, or even if, the charge will come,” Kent added. “The criminal justice system is pretty much on its knees at the moment in terms of the courts so, if there is a charge, it would likely then take some time before a trial would take place.”

(Top photo: Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)