You are ineligible to receive a visa.

You have to receive a waiver of ineligibility from the US Department of Homeland Security, then a visa.

Thanks for your reply.

Shall I just fill in a visa form and plead my case at the embassy?

I fear my efforts may be futile

Hi guys,

Sorry it was the 01/05/2002 not 2003

Did you ever apply for a visa? Would love to know what the outcome was. 

Homeland security have no access to UK criminal records, they won't know unless you tell them,if you apply for a visa chances are you would be refused.
There are conflicting posts on this site where people have  successfully applied for a visa and others have been refused for being honest. but that might not be the best policy... check out other posts.There is a lot of information on the net about people who have travelled with a criminal record.

It is important to remember that no country has access to what is help on the PNC 

There are many people within the UK that travel to the USA that have a criminal record and travel on an ESTA, to do this they declare that they have no criminal conviction, they go on holiday have a nice time and then one ack to the UK with no issue.

This would ever be advised if you were ever thinking of working over there, as you would need a visa, which you would have to declare your conviction, and this would pick up that you traveled on an esta and lied. 

If you have no plans to work over there then you should not have a problem

The Unlock Hub has some good information on this subject that is worth reading 

https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/travelling-to-the-usa-the-esta-form-and-moral-turpitude/

Stay safe