Landmark criminal record win for woman denied work as carer

The woman from Leeds, who is now in her 50s, said she feared the incident would blight her life forever, but triumphed in a landmark bid to have the “trivial” crime officially forgotten.

Judges said the incident, which appears on her criminal record, violated her basic human rights because it led to her being refused work when it showed up in Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks.

She was one of three people to bring a successful challenge to current CRB law which will force a fundamental change and cause severe problems for every police force in the country,

Home Office lawyers have 28 days to launch a challenge in the Supreme Court but, if that fails, police will have to remove entries from thousands of so-called “enhanced” criminal record certificates.

The woman, who cannot be named, said she spent years training to look after old people but her attempts to get a job were wrecked by the caution for shoplifting in Superdrug in Sheffield.

The country’s top civil judge, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, ruled the system which discloses such minor offence is “incompatible” with human rights.

He said the fundamental objections to the current criminal record system were “well illustrated” by the woman’s case.

She argued she would have made an “excellent carer” but for the caution received in May 2001.

The judge said: “Her offence was of a trivial nature committed some eight years before she applied for a post working with vulnerable people.”

The Home Office last night said it was “disappointed” by the judgment.