Ok, I've been an idiot and I know that so please no lectures. A few weeks ago I was really drunk from a night out and went into tesco for food on the way home. i'd been having a discussion earlier in the night about whether or not the little security tags on DVD's set off an alarm if removed. For some reason I decided to test the theory and broke the tags off two cases. Being a reckless drunk I then thought I might as well stick a couple of these discs in my pocket. After walking around for a few minutes I came to my senses and put them back before going to the till, buying some food and leaving the store. I was in the process of considering whether to go to the cash machine and go back to pay for the cases I'd damaged although I'm not certain if i would have actually done so as I was bricking it anyway at this point.
Now obviously I had been seen on CCTV and was aprehended by security whilst trying to leave. They demended that I follow them to a back room, to which I refused and asked them to discuss the problem at the door. At this point I was physically dragged off by eight security guards with my arms held behind my back, nearly breaking them in the process. The police were called and I was arrested for shoplifting, despite the fact that I hadn't actually made any attempt to leave the store with any goods that I hadn't paid for. Following a trip to the police station, I was bailed out and am due to appear in court on Friday. There was no interview taken at the station and I was not there for long enough to even see the duty solicitor.
Now as I understand it under Scottish Law, I should only have been charged with shoplifting if actually trying to leave the store with goods. Otherwise the only offence I had committed was criminal damage of the dvd cases. I believe under English law, concealment of goods is enough so please only offer advice if you're familiar with Scot's Law.
Where will I stand? No goods were found on me during the five or so police searches. Perhaps the CCTV never saw me put the discs back down again but either way there were no stolen goods on my person at the time of leaving the store. This will be my first offence. Wont be able to speak with the duty solicitor until the morning of my court appearance so any advice is appreciated.
Answer by Julia S
You probably won't get in trouble for shoplifting, but you definitely could get in trouble for damaging property. I'm not totally familiar with Scottish law, but in some parts of the U.S., you can get in trouble also for concealing merchandise on your person.
By the way, yes, the tags will go off even if they aren't attached to the merchandise.
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Orignal From: Does this constitute shoplifting under Scot's Law?
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