Hello. I am accused of theft. I brought something unpaid home from a supermarket unwittingly. Am I innocent?

I am answering this with the belief you are saying the store said you stole something.


If so, I think the law sees you as guilty whether you intended to take the item or not as I remember reading once that this elderly man could not get cell phone reception and stepped outside the door to try to use the phone and had his cart with him and he was charged with theft even though he was just outside the door and not walking to his car,


The law will see you as quite even if you did not know that an unpaid item was in your possession.

Hope that they will let you pay as fine (generally it is at least 3 times the value of the item or more) instead of charging you with a crime. If they do and you do not have the money for an attorney, ask for a public defender as generally one gets a lighter sentence if they have a lawyer and often the judge knows the public defender and they and the prosecutes come up with a sentence.

I once went to a shoplifter class and some there insisted they did not take the item on purpose but no matter what they said the teacher did not believe they did not know the item was in their pocket or purse. I think the law generally will feel the same thing so they likely will not find you innocent but if you have no prior record they probably will just give you a fee and court costs and paying the stores civil demand (that thing where you pay 3 or more times the item which if you do not or do not enter into a payment agreement of x amount a month will not make it go good for you..you need to pay the store's civil demand amount...maybe taking a shoplifting prevention class on your own will look good for the judge. Ask your public defender or lawyer how to get in one or they have some online that give a certificate if lawyer cant get you in one. Also you can tell your public defender how it was not intentional and then go with what he says to do or tells the judge.

Most people do not take something they accidentally did not pay for but your case is different as you got caught so they will just assume you did it on purpose whether you did or not..they do not care they just want their stuff back, their civil fines paid and maybe to get you a record to make it harde ron you if it happens again anywhere.

Guilty of shoplifting. Immediate return of the article would have been the correct thing to do. Than the store management's decision to prosecute or not.
Peace.

Under the United Kingdom Theft Act you have committed the crime of theft.

This is because in UK law two elements are required for a crime to be committed: the "guilty act" (the deed itself) AND the "guilty mind" (intent).

1) You took the goods without paying. That is the guilty deed (in law it's called the actus reus).

2) You admit that when you discovered the item you did not have the intention to return to pay. That shows you were voluntarily accepting goods taken by you and not belonging to you. That is the guilty mind (legally called the mens reus).

Therefore you have met the legal definition of a criminal act. In this case, Theft.

It does not matter whether the cashier was sloppy or not. The legal onus is on to pay. The goods were taken by you and you did not return them or offer payment. The supermarket are entiltled to report you to the police for theft (shoplifting) by appropriating the goods.

Your argument about it not being worthwhile returning the goods will NOT carry any weight in court.

The shop will reasonably say that "why should they, and their other customers, bear the cost of your actions?". If you were allowed to get away with this argument then so would other people.

If it was a genuine mistake on your part then the honest thing to do would have been to return the item either personally or by post - or send payment. You could have paid using your credit card over the phone if you didn't want to go out again.

You committed a crime. The accidental missing payment at the checkout became Theft when you discovered it and refused to correct the mistake. It is what used to be called "a fair cop". You do not have a legal leg to stand on. There is no excuse and you will be fined.

The size of your punishment will depend on how much weight the court gives to your mitigating argument. But realistically, your mitigation is weak. You should not assume in court that "everybody" would behave the same as you - they don't. There are a lot of people who would have returned the goods or paid by phone, you just don't mix with them.

The best you can hope for is a smpathetic magistrate who also thinks that it is ok to ignore shoplifting on the grounds that they can't be bothered to return to the shop.

Off course you are not innocent.

You knew you had not paid for the item(s) and as you said "didn't have the intention to pay".

That is theft in anyones book.

I'm just wondering who's accusing you of theft if you managed to get all the way home?

To be guilty of theft there must be intent. But you say that you later realised but then had no intentions of returning it ?? you then commit theft because there is intent - you deliberately chose NOT to return it, that is theft.
Contrary to what people say - if you accidentally walk out of a store - and have not paid for an item - it is NOT theft if it was not in your mind to refuse to pay for it. Any security guard who grabs you or stops you from going about your normal life commits an assault.

Eit > thumbs down ......... I m 100% correct. challenge me in debate.

If the cashier didn't ring it up.... what's the problem. That's her mistake.

1

The minute you realized you had an item that was not paid for? You should have returned to the store and pay for it. Knowing you have an item that is not paid for and not returning makes you a thief. It was not worth the fare to you, but now you are in trouble. I have a hard time believing that the guard caught you for this since you did not take an item. Are you sure you just did not take it voluntary ^^ Odd.
But you know your moral/legal obligations.

Its ok. If you got to know about what is been done unknowingly. please go to the shopkeeper and return the amount saying sorry for the mishapp.

U could have returned d goods no matter what.. Or u culd hv paid for it..even though cashier wS careless, it was ur responsibility to check if all d things are billed. And how u got the thing with u without ur notice? I think u r guilty Alan.. Anyways nw either return it or pay for it