CRB checks for wrongly accused.

[adamski]

Hi All,

Just want to thank the moderators and all members for the great service and online support. I just wished that i found this website in 2005 when i was wrongly accussed of rape and indecent assault. I Felt really alone although i had the support from my wife and family and few friends at that time..( guess you get to know who your true friends are!) , just felt lost and like i was a burdening everyone with this massive turmoil and anguish and hell that i was going through and felt i was putting ppl through.

So it started in June and Ended in early Sptember with a phone call from the Police/CPS stating that the case was dropped 1 week before i was due in to court for a trial. went through real grief and hell in my head for three months, only to have the pressure of a bubble pop ( ping) like it didnt exist by just one phone call. Relief and disbelief and utter confusion of emotions, should i cry or laugh or go mad with feelings of killing someone!!.

Put me though so much ****, my kids had to be vetted by the social services to see they havent been abused or molested. felt so low and ashamed, was all cleared after that but the experience to say the least was something you wouldnt wish for anybody to go though with. How much more can i take. wow. i surprised myself. I haven't killed myself!! with grief that is.

Yeah everyone around says don't worry it will be ok. but hang on. someone had the audacity to accuse me and tarnish my reputation and that of my kids and family, to face 10 years in prison! i couldnt smile or eat or S###. How could i take it lightly. Someone playing with my life like this.

Excuse the above please oh reader, i'm here to ask a question and im going into this , remembering what i went through, well. I'm cleared now but i still have the psycological scars and i dont think it will go away. But it did make me stronger and wiser.

SO for all of you who are going through a similar situation. Please don't give up hope and don't let them get one over you by losing your mind and losing hope. This will be over one day and there are many many people just like you going though the same ordeal. Your not alone.

So my Question(s) is this, Ive been looking into jobs that require enhanced CRB checks. Now i understand that this allegation still remains on a report on the databse somewhere. for how long? can i remove it? how? would i need a solictor for this? once removed would there be anyother database holding this allegation since they took my DNA?

Thanks to All and apologies for my long typo.

Adamski

[Hedgecroft]

Bad news!!

On this item a number of people have been campaigning to have this changed. Once you have been charged this will be on your CRB but it will have a note saying either NFA No further action or NC No crime. If you go for a job explain this once you have been offered the job and arrange for them to speak to the police officer that was involved in your case.

For other who read this the CRB only states any cautions or charges. If you have been arrested on a false accusation chances are you were bailed pending further in vestigation and this will not be recorded as anyone can make an allegation.

[RFLH]

They've been deabating this for the last three years. It's in the police's best interest to have many as possible on databases - guilty or not.

Parliamentary Questions on DNA (forensics)
April 2009

---------------
Lords civil liberties: electronic surveillance debate (23rd April)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90423-0008.htm



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22 Apr 2009 : Column WA406
National DNA Database

Question

Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

• To ask Her Majesty's Government what differences in the sensitivity and utility of data in the national DNA database and the National Fingerprint Database account for the different rules for collection, storage and removal of personal data that apply to those databases. [HL2757]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The legal provisions governing the taking and retention of DNA samples and fingerprints for the national DNA database (NDNAD) and the national fingerprint database (IDENT1) are set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), as amended by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003. They provide that both DNA and fingerprints may be taken from a person arrested for a recordable offence and retained indefinitely, including for persons who are not convicted of a crime.
Policy on the retention of DNA and fingerprint records is being reviewed in the light of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S and Marper. The Government are considering their response to the judgment in conjunction with the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. A White Paper will be published later this year which will contain proposals on how we intend to implement the judgment.
In relation to the removal of records, under the provisions in PACE, the decision on whether to agree to a request from an individual to have their DNA profile, fingerprints and associated records removed from police databases lies with the chief officer of the force which took the DNA sample and fingerprint records.
In January 2006, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) issued guidance to chief officers on the consideration of applications for the removal of DNA samples, fingerprint records and Police National Computer records taken by forces in England and Wales. The ACPO guidelines make it clear that it is expected that DNA profiles and fingerprints which have been taken lawfully will be removed in exceptional cases only.

[Rights Fighter]

Allegations that do not go to trial or are NFA'd still appear on CRB checks.

Some solicitors have had some success in removing the substance of the allegation from the CRB check.

[Hedgecroft]

I can check but...

I can double check it but my understanding having spoke to the agency is its only if you are charged. If you are arrested and bailed for further enquiries this will not show. You can still be given a NFA or NC at this point but if you are charged and then get a NFA or NC it will be on your CRB.

[RFLH]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/C...ion669447.html

[Rights Fighter]

Buenchico
Mon 08/12/08
23:53


A standard level CRB check only shows convictions and cautions. So your son's arrest won't show up on such a check.

An enhanced level CRB check (which is carried out when someone applies to work, for example, with children or vulnerable adults) shows convictions, arrests and any other information which a senior police officer (or other relevant body, such as Social Services or the Department for Children, Schools and Families) deems to be relevant.

Whether your son's arrest would show up on an enhanced CRB check would depend upon whether the police were convinced that he was innocent (in which case it shouldn't) or whether they simply thought that there was insufficient evidence for a successful prosecution (in which case it almost certainly would).

Following the Soham murders, the police are now under considerable pressure to ensure that enhanced CRB checks show all relevant information, including all unsubstantiated allegations of a sexual offence. (Ian Huntley had been investigated for alleged sexual misconduct, on several occasions, before he moved to Cambridgeshire. The enquiry that followed his convictions for murder strongly criticised the police for not including these matters in his CRB check). There was a post, earlier this year here on AB, where a guy was totally unaware that any allegations had ever been made against him until a CRB check was carried out. It was only when he read the report that he saw that he'd been suspected of 'grooming' a child for sex.

Chris

exmetpolice
Sun 04/01/09
00:07


Yes. This will be included on an Enhanced Disclosure as relevant information as disclosed at the discretion of the relevant Chief Constable.

If you feel it is not relevant information to the job applied for then you may write to the CC to request to removal of this information.

If the police feel that it simply was not proved, it will stay, if they genuinely feel he was innocent, they MAY remove it.

As I am sure you are aware this may well preclude your son (fairly or unfairly) from employment within the Police, Government, working with children or vulnerable adults.

If you have clear cut proof it was not your son, you may want to contract the services of a specialist solicitor.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


So two versions of the same answer. I know some people who were not charged or convicted still had some sort of dodgy record on their CRB check which indicated that they had had allegations of sexual abuse made against them.

The Chief constable as far as I know cannot remove evidence of allegations from a CRB check. I know this because the solicitor I work for has had major problems with this when trying to assist clients. He's managed to get the substance of the allegations removed, at best, but not the fact there is a "black" marker on the client's CRB check.

[Rights Fighter]

http://richardbaum.mycouncillor.org....njustice-here/

Another heartbreaking story about false allegations on CRB disclosures - Surely there’s a big injustice here?

I have spoken this evening to a desparate man from London, whose life is being blighted by CRB disclosures revealing false allegations made against him.


My (seemingly) one man campaign to alert people to this injustice has so far alerted a number of people harmed by it, but nobody willing to change anything! Maybe this will change that, as his story shows how the current law just can’t be right.


This man (from London) suffered a bitter break-up with a partner, who then reported him to the police with serious allegations. These, he maintains, were false, and although the police investigated them there was no conviction. He has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with the law.


And yet, due to the CRB system permitting the police to reveal allegations even if they were never proven, each time he applies for a job his CRB disclosure reveals them. Suspicion is cast on him again, and the embarrassment and shame of being a suspect in a serious crime returns. Remember, there was no conviction. He has no criminal record. And yet he is effectively treated as a criminal.


He was asked to leave two separate universities because of these allegations. And he has now been told by his employer that he is no longer required after his CRB was returned with these allegations on it.
How can this situation be permitted to exist? How can it be right, in a country governed by the rule of law, for the innocent to be criminalised? How can the allegations of an angry and aggrieved partner (or neighbour, or anyone who doesn’t like you) make their way onto official documents used to verify the character of someone else?



How can unproven accusations be used to incriminate those against whom they’re made?


CRB checks are vital. They are a hugely important tool in tackling abuse and in protecting the vulnerable. But they must be used wisely because, quite rightly, they are powerful documents. We need to protect people. But we need to protect ALL people, including the innocent people against whom allegations are made and who are made to suffer because they’re repeated on CRB disclosures.


I can’t help but think that there is a big injustice going on here. It cannot be right for allegations made, denied and absolutely not proved true, to be used against people in this way.

RF: And of course I have emailed this author of the above.

[frankgallagherwasere]

People also instigate false allegations in the knowkedge they could easily and simply destroy someones reputation and career - teachers being a primary target by pupils and parents.

The whole issue is that any Police officer can abuse their position by stating and reporting the lies in statements as truths - even though evidence contradicts it - that wont be included on any check.

[adamski]

Thanks for the many informative and beneficial advice given by you all. I have resorted to contacting my solicitors who dealt with the case when this episode of a nightmare happened 4 years ago. He just got back to me yesterday. He wasn't helpful and either he was with someone or just couldn't be bothered as I felt he was just brushing me off.

I asked him with regards to how to remove it he says he doesn't know anything about it and that If I wanted to check I should go to the CRB website and find out!. I know he is annoyed with me because previously he asked me to write about 50 pages of document about my life and the whole scenario and how and why I think it got to this, countering the 50 pages the accuser wrote about me. At that time I was going through a lot of grief and couldn't muster up the required energy and enthusiasm to do it. Even though the case was over and I was cleared he still required it from me for his records. I haven't done it and don't think I need to because I really don't see the relevance anymore and honestly I don't think he knows how much grief and depression one goes through at the time, it's not like someone can just sit and write with inspiration and although I wanted to I couldn't, every time I wrote I could only do a page or two then I'd get a sore head and get angry and upset and sorry for myself and those around me.

So now I call him and he's not pleased with me and is not helpful and informative. He knows my case and has all the case files and I'm thinking to contact another solicitor to deal with it and have him send my files to the new solicitor. Am I right in doing this? Even when the Case was over I didn't receive any information in documented format as to what the CPS actually said or the finer details of the police report and C.P.S. what should I expect to have had? what proof from my solicitor in writing am I supposed to have had to prove my innocents apart from me getting the phone call from the police stating so and apart from my solicitor saying that it's over.

Just for the records I was charged for the alledged offence but the charges changed from rape to molestation and sexual assault a month later then it changed again because the dates changed then it got dropped. CPS didn't want to take it to trail.

Thanks once again for all your help and suport.

Adam

[ajc]

allegations the after effect

Hi don't want to go on but having got s allegation on my crb which is enough to effect. Work. It also effects social. Ie kids gprs to cubs and i can't go on trips as i need to have crb check. I feel for any body in this situation and just hope the law changes so innocent means just that

[lawlessone2009]

It would depend on the 'allegations' which are on your CRB...

If you wish to 'change' the system then I'd imagine you'd need to be rich enough to hit the European Courts. It could be an idea to start a 'charity' type setup and go fundraising but it's a dangerous game which could result in people attacking you. People are very ignorant to things in life and jump to assumptions.

No easy answer. Welcome to totalitarian governance.

[Faith]

Such campaigning already exists. Rather than starting a group from scratch, it may be more fruitful to join the efforts which are already underway.

SOFAP, PAFAA, FACT...all active support and campaign groups. Contact members Verity (who is a very passionate and active campaigner) or RightsFighter who is at the helm of PAFAA for more information. They're both very busy people but will accommodate people who truly care about the issue.

Alternatively browse the websites (beware Stephen Cooper websites though...he has taken some of the domains) and find other contact details. I forget the name of the man just now, but the man on FACT is extremely helpful to talk to.

Or wing me a PM and I get any information to you on VJ or RFs behalf that you might want to know.

Write to your local MPs about the issues.

Plenty can be done without money.

[Faith]

I almost hope you do get that summons, just for that reason.

[Rights Fighter]

I don't - I have better things to do with my time, like help the falsely accused get out of prison......four appeals soon......one a CCRC referral and another referred by the Registrar and two bog standard ones........plus one pre trial and others up and coming.......