Allegations and dbs checks

[Rights Fighter]

Evidence to the contrary

https://www.forbessolicitors.co.uk/b...ape-acquittal/

Human Rights Not Breached in Disclosure of Rape Acquittal

A High Court decision in the case of R (R) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and another [2016], has been upheld by the Court of Appeal to dismiss a job seeker’s request of omitting information concerning his acquittal of a rape charge in an enhanced criminal records certificate under the Human Rights Act 1998.

R, a qualified teacher, was charged with the rape of a 17-year-old woman while he was working as a taxi driver. He was found not guilty by the jury and he was acquitted. However, his numerous applications for teaching jobs that followed his acquittal required an enhanced criminal record certificate under the Police Act 1997, which gave details of the rape charge and acquittal. A second application submitted by R for another enhanced certificate contained the same information as the first certificate, and Judicial Review was consequently applied for.

The court held that the disclosure did not go against the presumption of innocence under Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with regards to the fact that there was no indication of the jury being wrong to acquit or the police’s certainty of the claimant’s guilt. As Article 6 (2) states “everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law,” and the assumption that others may have from the collection of facts available to detect a threat from a specific person will bear no contradiction to the effect of an acquittal.

In addition, there was no evident breach from the disclosure to the right to privacy in Article 8 of the ECHR as it was consistent with the requirement to balance any detriment to the claimant against the need to protect vulnerable members of the public. The further element of the police not needing to consult the claimant prior to including the information in the certificate also affirms the latter point as it was not deemed to be a “borderline case”, considering that he had earlier dealings with the police concerning the inclusion of the same information in an earlier certificate.

[Blingguy]

It doesn't detract away from the fact that there were grounds to appeal irrespective of whether it was upheld or not. The judge decided there was enough merit in the case to hear it. Furthermore, we do not know the specific circumstances and nuances of the OP's case above so cannot make any sweeping statements. With regards.

[Peter1975]

Yup, I just read that appeal judgement and it would appear to be the exact opposite of whatever Blingguy is trying to say. The guy lost his appeal case. Perhaps Bg needs to read that again. HR legislation is unlikely to help unfortunately.

Sadly if there is evidence enough for you to be arrested or questioned, even if it is not deemed strong enough to prosecute or indeed to convict, that evidence still exists and will stay on file. There is no concept of being found innocent in UK law.

I can only second the opinion that you seek legal advice regarding the DBS and wish you luck.

[Blingguy]

Yes, seek legal advice.

And don't take no for an answer. Keep going!

It was heard in court - read full judgement - the case circumstances are unique. If the circumstances in OP case are different, there may be possibility of exploring alternative avenues with a lawyer.

[Peter1975]

Yes, seek legal advice.

And don't take no for an answer. Keep going!

It was heard in court - read full judgement - the case circumstances are unique. If the circumstances in OP case are different, there may be possibility of exploring alternative avenues with a lawyer.

The problem with that is that there are unscrupulous lawyers that will happily take your money instead of saying no. Paying different lawyers until you get the the answer you would like is far different from actually getting the correct outcome.

The OP does not need to take this to the court of appeal but rather learn where they stand in challenging a chief constables decision to disclose and what they can realistically do about it if they fail.

The appeal case posted only seems to prove that the HRA is useless against the powers of the police to protect.

[Rights Fighter]

Originally Posted by AmandaF
DBS have decided in their wisdom that my charges have to lie on file for 5 years as they work on balance of probability.

I'm not on any banned list, but they do show up

BlingGuy replied

That's very unfortunate. Can you outline the circumstances of the charges?

You can challenge this and appeal the imposition by taking it to court and can get legal aid.

I followed this up with the fact that "an imposition" cannot be appealed - especially in her situation.

BG's initial post was to AmandaF who said that the charges against her were "left on file" - so she was never tried for anything. As her OH was convicted there is even less chance of the charges being part of her DBS check being successfully appealed. Charges that are "left on file" are not NFAs neither are they NG verdicts. She's stuck in limbo with them.

[Blingguy]

Again, we don't know the exact circumstances. It seems dubious why the OP should be burdened with this.

This could be a test case potentially.

[Rights Fighter]

At the moment this OP (original poster) has not had a conviction, trial has not yet happened. Therefore there is no "test case" to put forward. It's irrelevant at this stage. He may not be convicted in any event.

[Rights Fighter]

No chanhe in my partners situation as of yet. He appears at crown in 3weeks then another wait till xmas for the trail. We got some of the statmements last week and all of them have different storys not 2 part match up from the witnesses to the accusers story so that was a bit of positive although did leave me questioning if this was the case how did they get it to court in the 1st place. As of yet my partner still hasnt looked at them as hes along the lines of putting it off.

But i do have 1 question that playing on my mind, when it goes totrail and hes found not guilty and aquited does it still show up on a dbs check or not. Just asking as he needs this to go back into his area of work and to ve able to move back in with myself. I read somewhere no matter what the outcome it stays on your record for 10 years but i dont believe it cam if a persons found innocent how can they be punished for a further 10 years

To address your case as opposed to you having to wade through the "arguments" - there has not yet been a conviction.

Some people, after Not Guilty verdicts (nobody is found "innocent" at trial unless the judge tells the def that: "you leave this courtroom without a stain on your character" - rarely happens) the DBS shows up absolutely nothing. In other cases, something does appear.

It really depends on the area and the policies of the police force and Chief Constable. Unfortunately it is a bit of a postcode lottery.

I think that all you can do at this stage is to "wait and see". I know that sounds rather trite given the stress and anxiety, but it's basically the most honest thing that can be said at this moment in time. To try to set a "test case" at this point, when nothing has happened and may never happened, is a bit silly.

To reiterate: you do not have to have a clear DBS in order to live together. With Not Guilty verdicts you may well still find that SS will intervene, depending on the age of the complainant and other factors. Some will leave you alone very quickly afterwards and some may still remain involved for a while. there are ways of dealing with this and I can help you with solid advice if needed.

Just hold on in there. If you need to talk to somebody in complete confidence let me know, and I will add you as a contact.