Any conviction that was imposed on someone purely due to consensual homosexual activity under now-abolished laws will be included in a scheme aimed at “righting the wrongs of the past”, the home secretary is set to announce.
Priti Patel said more people would have convictions for same-sex sexual activity wiped from their records, as she sought to expand the government’s Disregards and Pardons scheme from a narrow set of laws. Currently, just nine former offences are included on a specified list which the Home Office said “largely focused on the repealed offences of buggery and gross indecency between men”. If someone had been convicted of a crime under these now scrapped laws, they can apply to have it disregarded – wiped from their criminal record and not be required to be disclosed.