Does anyone know where I stand in regard to a newspaper?

mielzi

Well, two years ago I committed a crime of assault. It was in a small town, and the local papers had a field day, and the articles they wrote are still online. I had a job, but was sacked today because of the articles possibly "reflecting badly" on the company. Does this mean I'm going to be haunted by this single offence for the rest of my life, and never be able to secure employment again? Or does anyone know of any way to remove these articles? Any ideas much appreciated.

MagicSean

Court cases are held in public so I can't see what you could do about the newspaper articles.

BrianD

I can understand the difficulty. The OP has "done the time" but the articles are there as if it happened today or yesterday.

There are various cases ongoing about this in other countries.

Right now there isn't anything that can be done other than write to the local paper. Request that there is someway that some fair balance can be achieved.

Something will have to be done about this at some time and it will probably need legislation.

username123

Change your name by deed poll?

There was a tragic accident in my family that made the papers and articles were online for years but Ive just checked there and cant find any now - thats 5 years ago, so presumably they do disappear with time, no one has endless storage.

blueythebear

mielzi wrote: »

Well, two years ago I committed a crime of assault. It was in a small town, and the local papers had a field day, and the articles they wrote are still online. I had a job, but was sacked today because of the articles possibly "reflecting badly" on the company. Does this mean I'm going to be haunted by this single offence for the rest of my life, and never be able to secure employment again? Or does anyone know of any way to remove these articles? Any ideas much appreciated.

You may have a case for unfair dismissal there although that depends on a tonne of factors, but in principal, there may be grounds there. I'd suggest a meeting with a solicitor on that front.

Otherwise, there is nothing that can be done about the articles other than requesting that the papers remove them. They may or they may not but the choice is theirs as it's unfortunately a matter of public record.

I wonder is there anything on that in the upcoming Spent Convictions Bill and if not, there really should, for example, the paper having to remove stories online upon request if the conviction is spent.

mielzi

Yes, I have a meeting with a solicitor next week to see about that - what's upsetting is more that the criminal offence doesn't actually matter in the eyes of my employer, just the articles and the company's reputation..

Tom Young

That's very narrow minded on the part of your employer and you might be best to confine the discussions in relation to this to your solicitor.

It is not defamatory, as the truth defeats defamation. You might be best served to consider contacting the publisher in return for a donation to a charity of their choice. This has been known to work in the past.

godtabh

where you asked about the conviction during the interview process? did you disclose it?