shoplifting

[party123]

A while ago i shoplifted some products from primark, i feel so bad about it. Anyway i was caught and went through the entire process of questioning and then they took every possible id from me they also saw my latest pay slip to confirm my address and then noted my national insurance number, my brp etc. I've received a letter from RLP for a 245 pounds fine.

now i am in a situation to which i need the advice of the experts here, i am an international student, and new here, will it affect my psw? do you think there'll be record against me, also if i apply for a visa in future, would it affect my application. will they maintain a criminal record against me which could affect me further?

Kindly help as i am really tensed about it, and if there is no solution i am left with less time, i need to arrange for the money from somewhere. any help would be appreciated

[PallasAthena]

Firstly RLP have not issued you with a "fine". It's a invoice for Primark's 'costs' that RLP think you ought to contribute to but they have no legal basis for asking you to pay nor any power to to do anything about it if you don't pay. RLP have no legal powers to give you a criminal record. You can only get a criminal record if convicted by a court.

Courts can issue you with a fine but only if you have been prosecuted and convicted of a criminal offence. But as the police were not called at the time they are highly unlikely to get involved now.

Our advice is to ignore RLP.'s letters. You do not have to pay them anything. They will try to frighten you into paying by sending you a series of increasingly threatening letters for several months. Ignore them all and eventually RLP will stop sending them.

Search for RLP on this forum and read the many threads of people in a similar situation to you. As far as we know they followed our advice to ignore RLP and none of them ever came back to report that any court action had been taken.

If you ever do get a formal letter stating it is a 'Letter of Claim under the Pre-Action Protocols' or any document issued by a court do not ignore those and come back here for advice.