Keen to support her husband in a custody case where he was trying to gain access to his children from a previous relationship, Olivia was surprised when her criminal record was mentioned in the case in the Family Court.
Despite explaining that she hadn’t been in any trouble for over five years and that her conviction was spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, the Court asked her to provide proof of this. Wanting to make sure that her conviction was spent and trying to establish how she could get proof of this, Olivia contacted her previous probation officer.
Olivia’s probation officer explained that she could apply for a basic criminal record check at a cost of £25 or she could try using Unlock’s free online disclosure calculator. The probation officer suggested that Olivia print off the results and then give a copy of the court.
Olivia gave the court a copy of her Police National Computer record (which she already had, and which gave details of the offence, disposal and date) together with the printed results from the calculator which confirmed that her conviction was spent.
Oliva said:
“The disclosure calculator is a great tool that provided me with easy access to information I thought I may not be able to get. The court were more than happy with the print out I gave them and how quickly I’d been able to provide it.”
Lessons
The disclosure calculator does not provide an official record of whether or not a conviction is spent but can give individuals the confidence to know what they need to disclose. In this case, a combination of her Subject Access Request from ACRO and the calculator results were enough to give the court the evidence they needed.
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Notes about this case study
This case study relates to our disclosure calculator.
Names and details have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
