17 April 2008
R v Mitchell [2008] All ER (D) 109 (Apr)
Where a car is taken for use as a getaway vehicle and then abandoned, s 6 of the Theft Act 1968 does not enable the court to impute an intention permanently to deprive the owner of the vehicle. “Borrowing or lending” an article could only be deemed by s 6(1) to amount to an “intention of permanently depriving” the owner of the article if the intention of the borrower or lender was to return the property to the owner in such a changed state that it had lost all its practical value. Accordingly, an offence of theft is not made out in such circumstances.
