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by Lauren Hood

lhood@thekmgroup.co.uk

A frustrated Kent care worker cleared of blame for a patient’s
death has told how CRB files still haunt him - THREE YEARS on.

Justin West, of Herne Bay, tried to
save the life of a man found unconscious at the care home he worked
in.

Police launched an investigation
into what happened and the 29-year-old was among those quizzed.

No charges were brought and he was
cleared of any wrong-doing.

An inquest into the tragedy hasn’t
reached a verdict on the cause of death - but police aren’t
treating it as suspicious.

Yet despite this, full details of
the police involvement still appear on Mr West’s file - which he
says has made his life a misery.

According to Mr West, he’s still
being treated as though he’s under suspicion three years after he
was cleared.

That’s despite the fact he was one
of the staff who rushed to save the patient when he was found
unconscious in a bath.

Mr West, of Ivanhoe Road, said: "I
have no criminal record and have never been in trouble with the
law.

"Yet, due to the CRB system
permitting the police to reveal allegations even if they were never
proven, each time I apply for a job that require CRB disclosure
reveals them.

"Suspicion then is cast on me, and
the embarrassment and shame of being a suspect in a serious crime
returns.

"Remember, there was no conviction
and yet I’m effectively treated as a criminal.

"Personally whatever people said or
are believed to have said has no validity at all as it wasn’t said
in a court of law, so it can’t even be tested, no one can even
answer that.

"And what they’re asking people to
do, they’re asking an employer to be a judge and jury in a case
that hasn’t even been set.

"It doesn’t make any sense."

Mr West became aware of the
information after his current employer, a care home, was by law
required to carry out an enhanced CRB check.

Despite
disputing this with the CRB and police as well as contacting his
local MP Roger Gale, the issue is yet to be resolved.

Although recognising the importance
of CRB checks, Mr West, who has worked in the care industry for
over ten years, is worried that this will affect his future
career.

"It would be my 10-year career down
the drain. I wouldn’t be able to go and work with kids, I wouldn’t
be able to work with adults, wouldn’t be able to work with the
elderly probably wouldn’t even be able to into nursing.

"Anything to do with the care
sector whatsoever - that’s it, that’s me gone, that’s me
finished."

Mr West’s appeal is being reviewed
by Kent Police, and the force said it’s unable to comment while
that is ongoing.