In October 2012, Johnson investigated the events at the 1984 Battle of Orgreave, and the trials which arose from it, for BBC One regional news and current affairs programme, Inside Out: Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
[4] The programme examined the evidence that senior officers with South Yorkshire Police (SYP) had conspired to co-ordinate statements to wrongly charge arrested miners with riot, an offence which at the time carried a punishment of life imprisonment.
[5] Following the broadcast, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that the issue needed to be investigated, and SYP referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
"[8] Previously, Johnson had been the principal researcher for David Hencke and Francis Beckett's Marching to the Fault Line: The Miners' Strike and the Battle for Industrial Britain (2009).
[2] In July 2014, Johnson was alerted by a source that Cliff Richard was being covertly investigated by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) over an alleged historical offence of sexual assault.