Friday 24 July 2009

Finders keepers, losers weepers?


What would you do if you found something of value lying on the ground in front of you?
I suspect most of you would hand the item in, being a really honest group of people.
Well, that would be the right thing to do legally (and morally).
A couple from Swindon found a lottery ticket on a supermarket floor, and cashed it in - it was worth £30,000.
They went on a spending spree with it.
The person who had lost the ticket, reported it missing, and was able to prove this. The case went to court, and the couple who found the ticket got an eleven month suspended sentence.

In law, you are not entitled to keep something that has been ‘lost’, but you are entitled to keep something that has been ‘abandoned’.

If I saw a lottery ticket lying on a supermarket floor, I would just assume it was rubbish, and leave it there.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1170467/Fraud-couple-30k-lottery-ticket-supermarket-floor-went-spending-spree.html

4 comments:

The Plashing Vole said...

Me too. I'm interested in how the ticket's original buyers proved they'd lost it.

MrsF said...

I wouldn't look twice at a ticket lying on the floor I would leave it there. It says a lot about the couple that picked it up then tried their luck at cashing it in. I'm also curious as to how anyone could prove a lottery ticket was originally theirs..

Sue's Blog said...

I could not find out much about this one. It just said that she 'kept her receipt', and was well knonwn at the local co-op where she bought the ticket.
The moral of the story is probably keep your own lottery tickets safe, and don't cash in other people's.

Unknown said...

Or don't buy them at all...