Monica didn’t have a great start in life. She was in care from the age of 2 and she didn’t go to a great school, leaving with no qualifications. Fighting was part of her language – she used violence to settle disputes and disagreements. This worked for Monica amongst her peers, but not when she

Dennis has two minor convictions. The first was in 2004 when he was 17 years old – for criminal damage to a phone box for which he received a fine and community service. The second was in 2012 when he was 25 years old – for common assault after an altercation one evening with another

In 2008, after enduring more than a year of emotional abuse from her partner, the police came knocking on Teresa’s door. She had never had any dealings with the police before and she had no idea why they were there. They informed her that her partner had accused her of assault; she had pushed him

Aged 14 Helen was arrested and received a caution. It was around this time she started binge drinking which began a downwards spiral. Smoking ‘weed’ and drinking heavily at the weekends was pretty much the norm amongst the gang she hung around with and by the time she was 19 a deep depression had overtaken

As a result of his conviction, Terence was required to notify his public protection officer of any new relationships that he started. Shortly after meeting Lauren through friends, Terence disclosed his conviction to her and she agreed to go with him to the police station to meet his public protection officer. At that meeting, Lauren

Sadie had been studying for a teaching qualification at university when details of her new partner’s conviction for a sexual offence were disclosed on the additional information section of her enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate. On receipt of the certificate, the university immediately contacted her to inform her that it was likely she would

When she was 38 weeks pregnant, Louisa was told by her employer (a school) that as a result of her husband’s criminal record, she was ‘disqualified by association’ and would be suspended from her job as a teacher until she had applied for, and been granted a waiver, by Ofsted. The school provided her with

In 2017 Cheryl’s son was convicted of a sexual offence. He received a suspended sentence and was put on the Sex Offenders Register. Immediately the result of the case was known Cheryl, who was working as a primary school teacher, went to see the head teacher of her school to explain the situation. Although the

At the onset of puberty Wesley had a lot of mixed feelings about his sexuality. Although he can remember attending sex education classes, he says there was very little information about being gay and this made him feel ‘lost and alone’. For a while, he explored his sexuality with a friend of his brothers who

In 1995 Marcus was convicted of 6 offences although he appeared in court only once. The six offences were committed between 1992 and 1994 when Marcus was aged between 14 and 16. He was arrested and charged when he was 17 years old but by the time he appeared at the magistrate’s court for sentencing

In 2005, aged 17, Lynn was convicted of racial assault, an offence she was deeply ashamed of. Due to her age, immaturity and the way she’d been brought up, Lynn didn’t fully understand the impact that her behaviour had on others although years later she had time to reflect on her actions. At the time

At the age of 16, Saeed had fallen in with a ‘bad crowd’ which ultimately led to him being arrested and pleading guilty to involvement in a local burglary. He received a four-month referral order. The order involved him meeting with a panel of local community volunteers, his victim and their representative and other relevant