Villager's petition to amend law and give offenders with spent convictions 'a second chance'
A volunteer wants the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act amended, believing that many people are being unfairly treated.
Terry Mullett, who is well-known in Ludlow, has set up a petition with the aim of stopping spent convictions – particularly minor offences – from showing up in Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
The 1974 Act allows certain past criminal convictions and cautions to become “spent” after a certain period, meaning they can be legally ignored for most job and insurance applications.
However, Mr Mullett, who is from Leintwardine, north Herefordshire, says a lot of convictions are still coming up in DBS checks despite being many years old. The 71-year-old will discuss the issue with North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns on November 8.
“People may have gone off the rails 30 or 40 years ago and they keep their name clean all the time, but if they go for a role where they have to have a DBS check, it comes up,” said Mr Mullett.
“The person has done an offence, they’ve been charged and tried, and after a period of time it’s supposed to be spent. But people are still being penalised on the DBS [check].”
Mr Mullett explained that one person had undergone training at an advocacy organisation, but when a DBS check was carried out it showed that he had been convicted of benefit fraud more than 20 years ago, and was removed from the firm.
“The annoying thing about that was they were boasting about being an advocate for rehabilitation, yet they still treated this person like a leper,” said Mr Mullett.
“This is happening more and more. When they start living their life and contributing to society, what is happening is they are being penalised.”
The rehabilitation period varies depending on the sentence a person receives. For example, if someone is aged 18 or over and receives a custodial sentence of up to one year, the period is 12 months.
However, criminal records stay on the Police National Computer until the person is 100 years old.
“If you get points on a driver’s licence, you declare that, but four years later it’s expunged so your insurance goes down,” said Mr Mullett.
“So why can’t we have the same sort of thing? If somebody continues to break the law, that makes it a different ball game.
“But if they’ve done their penance and they’ve looked at their life and said ’I’m going to lead a decent life’ and go for something that needs a DBS, if something comes up that happened 20 or 30 years ago, it stops them from getting the position.
“I believe in fair play and giving people a second chance. I’ve spoken to so many people over the last couple of years who feel they are being discriminated against.
“If we can change the law on double jeopardy, we should be able to change something like this and bring up to 2025 rather than 1974.”
Anyone who wants to get in touch with Mr Mullett about his petition can do so by emailing terrenceauthor@outlook.com.
