Having previously never been in trouble in my 54 years I got caught shoplifting in Dec 2016 and was given a fiscal fine in February 2017 which would stay on my record for 2 years.

I cannot explain why though I did this again in ASDA in December 2018 (within the 2 years) stealing an SD card with a value of £11 which I didn’t need nor have used.

This was seen on CCTV with the police identified me from my car number plate in the car park after which they asked me to attend the police station last week and charged me with the offence.

They said as my fiscal fine was still within the 2 years they would have to refer it to the procurator fiscal.

I have a good job earning over £50k per year and cannot explain why I did this the first time never mind the second.

It beggars belief.

My question though is what the likely penalty is.

Can I get another fiscal fine or another alternative to prosecution as a conviction would likely end up with me losing my job as I require annual DBS checks

that is somewhat within your control.

for some reason you feel it was correct to repeat the offence.

your best actions to mitigate things is to seek medical help thru your gp.

if you show you are dealing with the issue that way, you might well find that the system will look upon you with a more lenient eye...

your only issue might well be the 2yrs gap in attaining help.

Thanks for your quick reply

Do you think their is a chance this might not go to court and be dealt with as an alternative to prosecution or as it is a 2nd offence within the 2 year period of the fiscal fine that this is a given.

If there is a chance I can prevent it from going to court by going to my GP how would the PF know this before making the decision to prosecute

you will get prior notification upon what, if anything, is going to happen,

you will be given the opportunity to reply to that.

indicating that, after sometime, you now realise there is some mental? [for want of a better reason] that you now see you need to deal with, you have and are seeking advice from your GP.

you cant predict 'what' is going happen, you will have to await contact from the court system, but you certainly can, then, mitigate what will happen from that point on.

but you must be seen to take 'the lead' not let the system lead you....

to date that is the primary reason the sheriff will look at to if this is taken further.

dx

Thanks again,

Is there anything I can do to mitigate the Procurator Fiscals decision before it gets to court.

Can I write to them advising I am seeking medical advice and request a direct measure.

Do you have a workplace doctor? If you have an annual DBS check then it might be a lot better if the information about this comes directly from you rather than by some formal disclosure process.

Tell it all, tell it early and tell it yourself could be a very good principle to apply. At the very least I would recommend seeing a doctor – as recommended above – and then if you can start to get yourself into a treatment process then maybe a visit to HR for a frank disclosure with them will help to forestall or to dilute any problems. If you have a workplace doctor, then even better.

You're the one who's going to have to judge whether this is in your best interests.

Thanks very much for that

I'm going to make an appointment to see my doctor over the coming days to get the support I need.

Is it possible if I do this and disclose this at court I may get a deferred sentence to finish my counselling and show no further offending.

I'm sure this would be very helpful in mitigation – but I suppose that it will still come up in the next DBS enquiry.

If you do see a doctor and the doctor agrees that there is some problem then of course a written report which details your condition and the diagnosis will be enormously helpful. The court may well require its own reports to be prepared.

Once again, do you have an in-house medical service? They will be bound by rules of confidentiality so you can go to them quite safely.

'cuse me asking but what court would this be?

and were all the goods recovered in both cases?

Thanks again,

My company uses an organisation called Health Assured who offer one to one or telephone counselling.

Do you think this is a better option?

In reply to DX's post:

The items were recovered in the first instance though the 2nd occasion was 3 weeks after event as a result of CCTV

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry it would be Kilmarnock court

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry it would be Kilmarnock court

Thanks again,

 

My company uses an organisation called Health Assured who offer one to one or telephone counselling.

 

Do you think this is a better option?

I would use both but ask for a face-to-face session, not telephone.

Hi

I believe in Scotland they have a system in place for low level shoplifting. This thread is one where a poster was dealt with.

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?442152-police-caution-shoplifting-SCOTLAND-**RESOLVED**&p=4701064&viewfull=1#post4701064

There will be a reason why you did this and my initial thoughts are a bit of depression (but don't take my word for it). There are many other reasons as well. Low seratonin levels could be a cause too. No excuses for what you did, just possible reasons this happens.

I would rather have face to face conversations with a counsellor rather than a phone chat. Face to face gives the interviewer/counsellor a better idea of your remorse and the fact you are dealing with your issues rather than burying your head in the sand.

Thanks for this.

I did see this thread though and have a fair idea how the alternative to prosecution and direct measure process works in Scotland.

The difference is that this is a second offence and the question is whether an alternative to prosecution can be issued in this instance.

I have today though arranged for six face to face Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sessions through Health Assured our workplace provider.

Hopefully this will shed some light on why I have done this.

I think that an important spin-off from this move is that when you get to a point that you decide to pre-empt the DBS disclosure to your employer, you can tell them that you have already gone into their own workplace health service and that you are happy for records to be made available to your employer. I think it would be difficult for the employer to cause you too many problems if you are actually availing yourself of the service which they themselves had provided.

In addition to getting help, there is a little bit of politics here

Thanks for that and to everyone who has provided guidance and advice.

I will update the thread with how the counselling went and the penalty I received.

Thanks again...