Jamie contacted our helpline after discovering that details of his spent conviction flagged up on the internet when he searched for his name.
As he’d been looking to set up his own business, Jamie was extremely worried that if potential customers and suppliers were to carry out informal searches on him, then they would no longer want to work with him or may view him differently.
Legally, Jamie hadn’t needed to disclose his conviction for the previous six months because it was now spent and had felt very positive about the future. However he told us of the shock he’d felt when he’d seen details about himself on Google and had started to believe that his business could be doomed even before it had got off the ground. Jamie asked us for advice about what, if anything, he could do.
We advised Jamie that as his conviction was spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, that he should use the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union and apply to Google to have all search links to his name removed.
We explained to Jamie that he would need to put together a list of the URL links for each link appearing in a Google search. He would then have to explain why, in his opinion, the search result was “irrelevant, outdated or otherwise inappropriate”. We offered to read through any document that he put together if he felt that this would be useful.
With a little input from us, Jamie sent a letter to Google as well as one to the owners of the website that the actual article appeared on.
After a couple of weeks, Jamie received responses back from both Google and the website stating that they were happy to remove his links from the internet.
Jamie stated:
Thanks to the information and advice given to me by Unlock, when I do a search on my name now nothing comes up. I feel that I really can now move forward with my life and not have to worry.
Lessons
This case shows that if you have a conviction which is spent under the ROA, you really have nothing to lose by applying to Google to have search links removed.
Links
There’s information on the so-called ‘google effect’ on our self-help information site.
Notes about this case study
This case study relates to Unlock’s helpline.
Names and details have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
