Juvenile Records UK Police

[Carmy]

Here's the situation:

When she was 14, my MC was caught stealing sweets from a village store. The shopkeeper reported her to the police, so there was a record, but no charges were laid.

Ten years later, a woman is murdered at a country estate and her city house is burgled. My MC witnesses the burglary and becomes a police informant. What she doesn't realize is that her new boyfriend is one of the gang. The police think there is a connection between the murder and the burglary and they suspect her of being involved.

My question:

Is her possible involvement with a murder strong enough for the police to open her file?

[waylander]

I'm sure someone would be given the job of 'find out what we know about MC'. Whether her minor offence at the age of 14 would have been recorded in a way that is searchable is less certain. If she accepted a caution it would.

[Carmy]

Thanks Waylander. It's such an iffy area that I might have to have my MC blurt out something about it when she's being interrogated. That might or might not lead them to dig into the files of another police area. They're in London but the offence took place in Wales.

[Sam M]

I'm not sure I'm following you. Her records were locked after the incident when she was fourteen? If this is the case, the police need approval from a judge to open said files. If they haven't got strong enough evidence to believe she's involved with the gang, it's entirely possible that the judge won't grant approval.

[Carmy]

Thanks Sam.

It's such a touchy subject, I'm going to go with the MC spilling the beans while she's in a nervous state. I think it's my safest way out of the situation, and I need an added reason for her to kick herself.

[jvc]

Take this with a pinch of salt. I'm not sure about needing a judge to open any files or them being locked. If it is on the PNC (police national computer) a simple search would alert to hem of prior mishaps.

[Carmy]

Thanks Jed, that's what I was hoping.

I think adult offenders would be listed, but would a juvenile's record be treated differently?

Isn't there some kind of law to protect juveniles? I can see that the public wouldn't be able to access juvenile records, and I doubt they'd show up on any court list, but I would have thought the police would be privileged. Mainly, I'm going by what I hear on TV cop shows when they talk about a criminal's juvenile record.

[jvc]

I couldn't be sure for certain Carmy. Plus if the shop keeper didn't take any action then there might not have been a record created so to speak.

[warning I am by no means an expert, though, just a thought]

[Carmy]

Thanks Jed.

The shopkeeper reported it but my MC was a visitor and things were smoother over. I believe the police officer had to write a report, even though nothing came of it.

[frimble3]

Don't know the workings of the UK police, but it seems to me that if no charges were laid, the 14 year old was leaving the area, things were 'smoothed over' and the horrendous crime was 'stealing sweeties', the police 'report' might have been ignored once it hit the desk, as being not worth filing. A local kid, who might have been starting a local crime wave, might be more closely watched. It's possible that in the eyes of the local police, the 'villian' was the shopkeeper, wasting police time.

[Carmy]

Thanks Frimble3.

I could contact the UK police but I think I can get around it by having her blurt out the information when the police question her. They more or less accuse her of being a member of a thieves' ring so, in a nervous state, she could easily say something she didn't intend to.