PR application for EEA national with a criminal conviction

[vivamika]

Hello!
I wanted to know your thoughts about the following situation, as we are confused on how to move forward
My husband is EEA national who is looking to apply for PR. He's been here since 2004. No long absences. Mixture of employment and self-employment. However, in October 2015 he had a fight and was charged with assault by beating. Received 6-month community order which he spent cleaning the cemetery every weekend. He is a changed man now (i hope). Now the PR application form is asking to disclose ALL spent and unspent convictions, but we are very uneasy about this, as i heard and read that many PR EEA applications are now being refused because of criminal convictions. The thing is, it actually should be spent now i think (its been over 2 years), although im not sure because in theory rehabilitation act gives 1 year + length of community service, so in our case 18 month, but when we asked for his criminal record check in September it was still there when it shouldnt have been. So does anyone have any strong points in favour of either disclosing it or not? We are in two minds because, if he discloses it i imagine the officers would straight away look for ways to refuse the application. On the other hand, if he doesnt disclose it and they check (which i think they not always do, as i know someone who didnt disclose a fresh conviction and got away with it) this will look bad too.

One other point is, that before we met, so more than 6 years ago he had 2 other warnings or convictions for like drunken behaviour and criminal damage(by accident), but as its been so long ago he has no paper or any other records and doesnt really remember many details, which i think need to be put on application form. Those convictions are no longer on his file as its been over 6 years. So, as i see it, if you disclose 1 and not disclose 2 other this is not much better than not disclosing it at all. If he puts all 3 (!) to me this is going to look like he is a recidivist! (and he is not a bad person, just sometimes loses nerve with alcohol)
I read here that there is no "good character" test for EEA route, but i also read that they do refuse applications on the grounds of criminal convictions.
So what do you think? Anyone has any information about similar cases? Does anyone know for sure if they ALWAYS do criminal record check on an applicant? And how do they check spent convictions, anyways, if its removed from the file?
Would greatly appreciate your input in the topic!