A.S. v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
George Nicolaou;Ineta Ziemele;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Nona Tsotsoria;Päivi Hirvelä;Paul Mahoney
The applicant, A.S., is a British national, who was born in 1957 and resides in the United Kingdom. In May 2005 the applicant, a police officer, was arrested and charged with what he describes as serious sexual offences. His trial took place in January 2006 and he was acquitted. He was permitted to return to police work in April of that year, although subject to certain unspecified restrictions. Moreover, the applicant states that because of his relatively uncommon name it is easy to find news reports on the Internet about the charges brought against him, his trial and his acquittal. In light of the seriousness of the charges, information about them will be retained by the police until the date of his 100th birthday in accordance with current policy, and may be disclosed in certain circumstances as explained below. The applicant did not take any domestic legal proceedings in relation to his complaint. The law and practice in relation to the retention and disclosure by police of personal information (arrests, charges, convictions, acquittals and so forth) which were current at the time of the applicant’s trial are referred to the Court’s judgment in M.M. v. the United Kingdom, no. 24029/07, 13 November 2012 (see §§ 33-45 regarding retention and §§ 48-60 regarding disclosure). In summary, and as the applicant has indicated, under the ACPO Retention Guidelines, information relating to the charges brought against him as well as the fact of his acquittal will be retained on the Police National Computer until the date of his 100th birthday. The Guidelines make detailed provision for the “stepping-down” of information held by the police. Information that has been “stepped down” is accessible only to the police. None of the other bodies with which police forces share information may gain access to it. Where a person has been acquitted, the information is stepped down immediately. It would only be disclosed as part of an enhanced criminal record check if the police decided that it was relevant to the purpose of such a request and not disproportionate to do so.