Regina v Patel: [2006] EWCA Crim 2689

CA: Hughes LJ, Henriques and Field JJ: 25 October 2006

The defendant appeared before a magistrates' court for an offence of theft and was made subject to a conditional discharge. Nine years later she applied for a civilian job with the Metropolitan Police, and when completing the question on the application form "Have you ever been convicted of an offence?" she answered "No". The defendant was charged with an offence of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception by falsely representing that she had not been convicted of a criminal offence. The trial judge ruled that section 14(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, by which a "conviction" for which the offender was conditionally discharged was deemed not to be a conviction for any other purpose, applied and that, therefore, the defendant did not make a false representation and there was no case to answer.

The prosecutor applied for leave to appeal against the ruling of no case to answer.

The Court of Appeal held:
While there was a critical difference in some circumstances between the expressions "found guilty" and "conviction", no such distinction was recognised between "conviction" and "convicted" by the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. It was clear from the form that what was being asked was whether there was a conviction, and, accordingly, the defendant could not be said to have made a false declaration and the judge was correct to rule that there was no case to answer.
Per curiam. There is absolutely nothing to prevent employers such as the police, who are exempt for good reason from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and have a legitimate interest in asking questions about criminal conduct, in asking properly framed questions such as “Have you ever been found guilty of a criminal offence?”

The application for leave was granted but the appeal was dismissed.

Appearances: Andrew Colman (Crown Prosecution Service, Headquarters) for the Crown; Denis Bradley (assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant.