I do not have a criminal record. The wonderful conservative/liberal coalition updated the rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 so my conviction became spent. That said I currently work for a 1000 employee plus employer and they never did a criminal record check but others have.
Yeah, I've never known any tech job actually do a background check in the UK. It'd have to be something very specific. Even when I worked for a financial company.
This person is in the UK. The rights afforded to criminals in other places may not be so good.
I think this is a better story than most one gets asked about a 5 year gap.