Should I declare an old minor convction if it doesn't show up on the Police National Computer?

[miguelito]

Hi all,

new here. I did my homework and I am still very confused.

Before you say "Of course you have to!" please read on because there are a lot of question marks here.

Background: I am a EU citizen in UK with full settled status. I have been in UK for almost 30 years.

In my first year in UK, I got myself stupidly tangled in a relationship with a prostitute (yes, what a loser!) and she convinced me to go around and leave her business cards inside phone boxes (yes it was long ago when people still used phone boxes). A police officer stopped me, took me to the local police station and told me to appear the next day at the local Magistrate Court, which I did, I pleaded guilty and I was given a fine to pay which I did.

I still have the receipt of the fine with the date and the reference but no actual conviction reason. My English at the time was terrible and I tried to forget it all.

In 2019 I made my application for settled status. I went to an immigration adviser, he told me to request a SAR at ACRO https://www.acro.police.uk/s/ which came completely clean, so he said "Don't disclose it" and I got my settled status.

Now I am thinking of applying for British citizenship and I fear that not disclosing it might come to bite me hard in the backside.

I am aware of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... racter.pdf when it says "All fines must be declared, and any failure to declare may result in an application being refused on the grounds of deception. See deception and dishonesty." and I would have no reasons not to disclose it, apart from these points:

1) I contacted the Magistrates court and they could not find a record of this conviction but the say they could be able to find it for a fee of £25 (not a problem with that) and it will take about 6 months because they have to pay somebody to go down in the basement and find that sentence from the mid 90s.

2) I was advised on another forum not to disclose it as "it may have never been entered on the system". In other words, "let the sleeping dog lie".

3) The Home Office may ask me: why did you not declare this conviction when you applied for Settled Status?

I hope you understand the situation I am in and I thank you for taking the time to read this.

[contorted_svy]

Just explain what happened in the application/ Don't worry too much about not disclosing it for settled status as it is an entirely different process. Not disclosing it could amount to being secretive and trying to hide information, which, if it came to light, would definitely be a lot worse.

It has happened so long ago and you haven't reoffended since, that it won't have an impact on your application - I advise you disclose it and think of it as little as possible.

[miguelito]

Just explain what happened in the application/

Thanks. I want to do this but I don't remember the actual conviction. All I remember was that I expected it to have do with helping prostitution, instead it was something about advertising. Should I go for asking the Magistrate court the archive of the sentence, or just write the day of the sentence and its reference number and they will do the job for me?

[contorted_svy]

I think ifI would ask the Magistrates Court - you can attach the sentence if you still have it, or provide the details you have if they cannot retrieve it.

[mccheb]

I am not a legal professional in any capacity, but a quick Google search reveals that sex ads in phone boxes were only outlawed in 2001 (cf. "Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001").
So, contrary to what you have thought (or think?), on the record (I doubt it is) that event was at most a petty crime about putting ads in phone boxes.

As suggested by the moderators above, you should disclose it but can be very brief (as you have honestly forgotten the details), no need to mention prostitution at all.
Wrt. record of the sentence - my understanding is that you are under no obligation to actually dig it out of some obscure basement!

Keep the story (which I find a bit melancholy) to yourself and there really is no reason to worry at all.

[miguelito]

Hi, thank all of you who have kindly replied to my post.

Before I put this to rest, I rang the helpline at Courts and Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC) and I gave the reference that was on the original receipt from the 1990s. I also gave my name. The operator said he couldn't find my sentence on the system (apparently called Libra).

My final question is: if the case is not on Libra, is it still worth mentioning it on my citizenship application? Do the HO use Libra, the PNC or whatever else system?

Thanks again in advance.

[contorted_svy]

Just provide all the details you have. as we said above, you will most likely be OK as your conviction is minor and happened a long time ago.