Scotland Yard.
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A convicted thief is suing Scotland Yard for discrimination after she was turned down for a job as a police constable because of her criminal record.
Rachida Sobhi failed to inform the force that she had a conviction when she applied for the position but background checks disclosed her crime.
She then claimed she suffered from a form of amnesia which caused her to forget the incident, but no other aspect of her life, according to reports.
The case was initially dismissed at an employment tribunal but a senior judge subsequently ruled that her amnesia meant she was disabled when she filled in the application form and gave her leave to appeal.
The Met is contesting the claim. A spokesman said: “We believe the first hearing outcome was the correct one and will vigorously defend our position at all future hearings. We would not wish to discuss our position further prior to proceedings.”
Miss Sobhi, who is already employed by the Met as a Police Community Support Officer, is believed to be the first person with amnesia to have been declared disabled for the purposes of an employment tribunal.
She was a cashier in a department store in Brixton, South London, when she was arrested with other staff for stealing make-up in 1991, according to the Mail on Sunday.
In August 2008, she applied to become a constable but when her fingerprints were taken as part of the process it emerged that she had a criminal record.
She received a disciplinary reprimand for failing to mention the conviction but applied again the following year and was again rejected.
Miss Sobhi filed a claim in the London Central employment tribunal “complaining of discrimination on the ground of her sex, her sexual orientation, her religion or beliefs, her age and her disability” against the Met and several individuals.
The Met is said to accept that she was suffering from “dissociative amnesia” when she applied for the job but will argue that she should have admitted “she did not know whether or not she had any convictions”.
They say her condition is irrelevant as she would not be allowed to become a constable with a criminal record.
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