The Court of Appeal has ruled that a requirement to disclose all criminal records is incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The individual in this case had received two warnings at the age of 11 from the police in connection with stolen bicycles. At the age of 17, those warnings were revealed by an enhanced criminal record certificate (ECRC) when he applied for a job and again two years later when he applied for a university course.

In his application for judicial review, the claimant argued that the statutory scheme provided for by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and the Police Act 1997