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Dear Colleagues, I promised I would summarise the advice given. It boiled down to decided what on the file was already in the public domain and whether any material not in the public domain was likely to cause _substantial_ distress to living persons. There was also the age of the person convicted. If the file is to remain closed then it should be for the lifetime of the individual concerned - say 100 years. I was also warned about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and its possible repercussions and, of course, the Data Protection Act. I was also advised to study the PRO website at http://website/recordsmanagemnt/access/default.htm On balance I think it best to keep the file closed until the offender can be supposed to have died - so another couple of years. Thank you all for your help. Clare Brown . Clare Brown Archivist MEC St. Antony's College, Oxford OX2 6JF. Tel: 01865 284706 Fax: 01865 311475 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%