Mellors,

Just consider this a practice run. Surely, this group will be able to put all our heads together and come up with some good ideas for you. Right now, here are a few of my thoughts.

Are there any temp jobs you can get? If the demand is high enough they don't care as much about what you have been doing. That way you can get some experience back on your record.

On another track, while I generally believe in very ethical behavior, in this case I might recommend lying about your down time for mental health reasons. Could you have been away caring for a dying aunt?

In America it is very easy to do background checks on people, and find out about jail time. Is that the case in England? Actually, I did these on a freelance basis for awhile.

Just remember you're great. We'll help you get this worked out.

EJ