‘We were just rowdy 16-year-olds’: how a police caution blighted a career

When Natasha was 21, and already working as a dance instructor, a PE teacher post came up at a nearby school but she decided not to apply. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Natasha* was 16 when she was reported to the police while standing outside a fish and chip shop with a noisy group of friends.

She had never been in trouble before but there was a local ban on teenagers gathering in big groups. She was one of a handful who did not run away in time.