Convicted for buggery 51 years ago – and still paying a price

For more than half a century John Crawford's crime has cast a shadow over his life; a permanent stigma etched into the files of the national police database. His conviction in 1959 was for consensual sex with another man – which is no longer a crime – and based on a confession extracted only after weeks of beatings in a police cell.

But 51 years later, Crawford has been told he is legally bound to disclose his criminal record for "buggery", received when he was just 19, when applying to work with vulnerable people. The retired butler, now 70, is seeking to clear his name in what he hopes will be a landmark legal campaign against the residual consequences of laws which, although expired, continue to persecute homosexuals.

Crawford, from London, discovered his conviction for a sexual offence was still registered on the police national computer (PNC) eight years ago, after seeing the results of a routine criminal records check conducted when he applied to work as a volunteer at Wormwood Scrubs prison.



"I saw John Crawford. 1959. Charged on two counts of buggery," he said. "Since then, I've analysed my life and found out the amount of my jobs that I've lost because I've got a criminal record." Now a volunteer who feeds patients at hospitals, Crawford is currently looking for work, and is compelled to disclose his conviction each time he gives his time to charity.

Under the current rules, he could be prosecuted if he fails to mention his buggery conviction under the Sexual Offences Act 1956. "What I want to do is apply for voluntary work and, when it comes to the box on the application form that says 'do you have a criminal record', I want to be able to say no," he said.

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