Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
#1
The Daily Mail on saturdays, the only day I buy it for the TV Guide, always has the most staggering stories of the weird but not always wonderful stuff that goes on here in the UK. Yesterday they carried a story about a woman who has been jailed for 6 months for fibbing on her CV. Yes unbelievable but true...fibbing on her CV. She is 29 years old and a former member of the Royal Navy yet despite this background she was given 6 months under the Fraud Act for falsely acquiring a humble £23,000 a year job.
Whats happening to society..I mean back in the old days everyone did a little bit of fibbing, a little bit of exagerating on their CV...thats if you even had a CV. Its a document in which you try to sell youself and your own abilities so what would an employer expect. He expects exagerations.
But not anymore, this is the first ever jail sentence administerd to someone lying on their CV...as if the jails are not full enough already. But...the indications are this wont be the last jail sentence dished out either under changes in the Law.
If ever there was a cause that highlighted a 'them and us' society then this is it. The higher up the socio-economic scale you go, the least likely you are to end in any kind of trouble.
Compare this simple offence with the woeful exagerations of former Government Minister Slimey Stephen Byers last week, he lied about almost everything on his CV...he lied about representing Tesco, he lied about representing National Express, he lied about being able to deliver Tony Blair...what will happen to him you ask....well, nothing at all!
The clear and obvious point of note here is that if you are going to lie...lie BIG!!
What was this sentenced woman's ultimate cardinal sin...well...she said she had 2 A levels when she didnt !!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#2
I read about awful things in society every day Paul.
Someone tries to stop muggers or burglars and they are arrested, not the burglar or mugger.
Young kids - boys and girls kicking someone's head in till it explodes - for fun.
All sorts of sickness in society, but no remedy; at least staying in prison for a long time will take them off the streets.
Prisons are full of people who shouldn't be in there - CV cheats for example, non-payers of council tax, tax cheats (take their money, sell their house) all sorts.
Foreign criminals, if or when found guilty of a crime, should be deported back to their own country - we were burgled back in January by a young guy from Albania, he wa sentenced last week - suspended sentence and a few hours on community service.
Every one who comes into the Country should know/be told, that if they commit a crime here, then back they go and no messing about with detention centres, where they walk around the Town anyway.
They need to know that there are are will be consequences to what they've done.
Roger
#3
Whoever gave that lady a custodial sentence should be sacked immediately. They are clearly out of touch with reality and are not fit to do the job for which they have been employed. The observation re Byers is spot on and leaves a bitter taste with justice, fairness and common sense the losers.
#4
I'm with you Sid, and PaulB - whoever set that sentence needs to get a life and interact with the real world. So much evil out there, this "offence" hardly seems to register.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#5
my c.v. would have won the booker fiction prize, if it had been checked out fully, i would have got 25 years.
surely everbody adds a few uncheckable qualifications?
so this lady gets banged up and the burglar walks free!!
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
#6
Throw those stupid wigs away, get rid of all those old outdated laws, and make new laws compatible with the 21st century.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
#7
How pathetic that poor woman. i wont comment no more on this subject as my feelings for the law and its let downs run very deep.
#8
The law is not the ass here, the idiot who interpreted it is.
#9
Usually the case, Sid. The Law covers most eventualities, even if it is a bit complex. The problem arises when some eejit with their own prejudices and lack of insight decides to put their own slant on it, or ignores the nuances.
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
#10
I agree with everything above, particularly the observations concerning Stephen Byers, and went straight into my usual outraged and apoplectic mode on reading the article. However, there may be more to it than meets the eye. There seems to be no mention of the fact that the lady concerned was given a twelve months jail sentence in December for issuing three hoax bomb threats to a warship and shore establishment in Plymouth, causing the ship and part of the dockyard to be evacuated. Two of the letters accompanying the article below describe her as a compulsive liar who needs medical help.
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Jailed-telling-lie-CV/article-1945403-detail/article.html#11
Then perhaps that is what she should have had????
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,709
#12
Clearly I am the only one who thinks that what she did constitutes fraud and that she deserved to be punished when caught. What is the difference between defrauding an employer to get a job and any other type of low level fraud (sat benefits fraud)? Would you all be so complacent about this if her job was safety critical, she lied about her qualifications to get it and then cocked up through not having those qualifications and someone died or was seriously injured?
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
#13
Perhaps that is different to "a couple of A levels"? Of course she shouldn't have done it, but to bang her up for it is perhaps a bit de trop?
#14
I don't think anyone has said what she did was okay. Some have confessed to 'beefing up' their own c.v. What outrages us Ross is the custodial sentence, which is, on the evidence and in our view, totally unnecessary.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
#15
No, Ross, you're not the only one. In law this is a criminal offence, I think it comes under the heading of "Acquiring Goods or Services by deception" and attracts a maximum custodial sentence of 2 years. It is a ludicrous penalty for something I would assume many, many people do when trying to land a job they want - it's a punishment out of all proportion to the offence and needs reviewing or repealing.
But by no means is this the first prosecution for this offence, Paul. I know of at least three people prosecuted for this exact same offence. Two of them were fined and in the case of the third, a friend of mine from London days, he received a 9-month suspended sentence. On the very day he was up in court, The Sun printed a splash story about a used car dealer whose CV resembled Howard's Booker Prize entry; he landed a top job with Nissan UK and a salary that read like a cricket score, and was only found out when a former customer recognised him. I believe he was likewise prosecuted and got the maximum 2 years.
True friends stab you in the front.
Ross Miller- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,709
#16
Thanks Andy
I must be odd as I have not fibbed on my CV ever
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
#17
Me neither, no need!! But even though we all seem to agree it isn't right, the sentence does seem out of proportion.
#18
Some community work, graffiti removal perhaps, would be more appropriate.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
#19
sid,would you get an a level for that.
#20
I wouldn't Brian, but some may, probably those doing media studies.
