Hello all,
I have been going through a bit of a tough time, so felt that I would add to the positivity of this section.

I am writing this for my own wellbeing/ therapy. Sorry f it drags on but I need somewhere to vent!

About 15 years ago I was arrested, charged and found guilty of an offence. A follow-up conviction followed. It was pretty widely reported, and although I am deeply shamed and sorry for my actions, the convictions and the following media coverage were far from representative. My actions were made to seem magnatudes more horrific than they were. It was a tough time, but thanks to a strong family I managed to get through it and found a job.

I done all the things one should, complied to the letter. People I dealt with from social workers to Police officers from that point were hugely supportive - one police officcers even stated that it was a "waste of their time" coming to see me, but despite enjoying a chat there were better things they could be doing with their time.Work was basic and repetitive to start, but managed to work my way up in the company to something more intresting and representative of my skills. I applied for a middle-managment job elsewhere and got it. I stayed at that organisation for just over a year before being asked to apply for another at a rival employer- I did and got that job.

This is when a few strange things happened. I got called into a meeting with my line manager and HR director (terrifying!), they stated they had been sent information regarding my convictions from an 'anonymous source' and asked if it was true. I stated it was and offered to answer any questions they had. My managers response was "No, it's fine. We are more than pleased with the job you are doing." They went on to state that they had wondered whether they should tell me about this, but decided it was fair to do so. So life continued as normal. There came wholesale change - and as a result after 4 and a bit years my job changed, and my team moved on. I was asked by another company to apply work a job with them - so I did. I got the job.

Furig this time odd things started to happen. One day the police called me to ask if I was OK. It turned out someone had called them to saying I was bout to take my own life - the police were even at my home although I was on holiday. Other malicious things started happening too. The police seemed unintrested and done nothing.

The new job was going OK. I had relationship issues with my line manager, but was working over these. I had went on holiday for a few days, came back to find my probation was being terminated due to my past. Ofcourse, this changed pretty quickly to "performance issues", no doubt when HR thought about the RoOA. Because of my conviction type, the Union were unintrested too.. Moreover, news of my conviction has spread somewhat through the sites of my previous emplyers and my work-based friendship circles. I have literally lost everything I worked hard to rebuild.

So, I have been unemployed for the last few months. My finances are absoluetly shot - I believe I can survive for another couple of months on savings etc. I have debt - it was all easily managable on my previous wage, but not now. I am massively isolated, my mental health is not good. I keep applying for work, but I can't apply for anything with a CR check (almost everything seems care based at the moment), or anything that relies on my previous employer to give a reference - because of the situation. I want to work, but the sutters have totally come down.

Anyway... on a positive note, at least the rain has stopped

Hi steadfast,

Fiirst of all welcome, I’m glad you’ve found this forum if you needed space to vent, by all means, vent away! Plenty of people here can understand or sympathise with difficulties when it comes to employment. It’s such a shame that the wheels have come off for some reason when you’ve been doing the right things. It sounds like you’ve done incredibly well post-conviction to hold down as much work as you have, so far. So be proud of yourself for that.

Just a thought, have you changed your name? You mentioned being in the papers, is it because of the Google effect that this has happened?

With the skills you have, is there any chance you could start something yourself as self-employed / start your own business?

I’m sure you’ve thought of this already, but the employer who was aware of the conviction and happy with your work, can they help? Just a few thoughts.
Anyway, as far as isolated, make sure you’re getting out, going for a coffee or a longer walk around for a food shop or something, little things to keep you from staying in (Which is so easy to do these days). Keep us posted on how you’re getting on.

=====
Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

Another question to ask is whether your conviction is spent (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act). If it is, then you can ask Google to remove links to webpages that contain information about it. There is some scepticism on here about that process, but once the conviction is spent, you are more likely to get those links removed from search results. You can read more about that on Unlock's website here. If you can get those links removed, it makes it that much harder for anyone new to find that information online, and also makes denial more plausible. If your conviction is spent, you don't have to disclose it for a basic DBS check, so please make sure you don't over-disclose.

=========================================================================================================

If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

Thanks for the reply's.
I done everything right. I changed my name and moved away - so someone really has went to some effort to 'out' me!
I, again, done all the right thing regarding google. I waited until convictions were spent and requested they be removed. The response was that they wouldn't remove them as they were 'in the public's intrest'.
I know where I am - I know I need to start again. I know I can do it, but its exhausting and I really don't know how much mental resolve I have to keep going through this.
I am always a big believer in the concept of Karma - I know I done something wrong quite some time agao, but I have done lots and lots of good things since. I am not asking for forgiveness from anyone, all I want is to live some sort of lifae and pay my way.

We've had reports of this "public interest" claim before. It might be worth involving the ICO, even if they do have a backlog. There are no guarantees, except that if you don't involve them you won't make any progress.

=========================================================================================================

If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

I've tried a couple times to get links for my name to certain vigilante websites removed but each time the ICO have agreed with Google that there is a 'public interest' reason' for not removing them. Waste of time!

I don't know if the convictions were spent when you complained to the ICO, but if they were still unspent then they almost certainly wouldn't help you. Sometimes, though, they do seem to refuse to act even when the convictions are spent. That was a particular problem for one guy on here who lives in Scotland. His conviction is spent there, but they still wouldn't help him. Not sure if that was because they base their decisions on the law in England & Wales or if it was personal prejudice by individuals affecting their professional decisions.

=========================================================================================================

If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

I'm going to assume you're maybe talking about me there?
Aye, ICO weren't much use at all. I've actually tried twice to get my name removed and both times failed.

The first time I was quite fresh-faced and still serving my sentence and it was denied (not to mention they ended up doxing me to the vigilante Facebook and that website), my complaint wasn't ever properly resolved to my satisfaction but at that time I just didn't have the mental energy to spend on it.

The second time my conviction was classed as spent (although I was still on the register) and Google and then subsequently ICO both told me they couldn't due to public interest - When I reached back to get them to define what they mean by public interest and the threshold for it I got radio silence.

As of this year my sentence is obviously still spent, I'm off the register and back to being a 'free' man as it were. I'm sure I'll try tackle it again at some point but I honestly don't know what else I can do about it.

It was you I had in mind, but I don't like to name names in that context. I strongly suspect that you were the victim of Anglo-centric ignorance (I'm English, so I can say that, BTW) and a failure by them to investigate properly. Hopefully, once you meet the "English" threshold, they'll finally get round to doing what they should have done some time ago.

=========================================================================================================

If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

I can totally relate to the frustration of just wanting to get on with your life. It's disappointing to hear you're still having to deal with this after 1) being spent, 2) changed your name and 3) moved elsewhere. I don't understand how someone can still make the link when, as you say, you've done so much to protect yourself.
What I will say is you have shown great resilience and ability to get back on the horse already and you're not alone with these unfair, because they are unfair, scenarios.
As you can tell by the responses, there's lots of people here who understand and will all help if we can.

=====
Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.