CHRISTOPHER JOHN GILLIES v. PROCURATOR FISCAL, GLASGOW

The appellant Christopher John Gillies appeared before the stipendiary magistrate in Glasgow on 9 July 1997 and was found guilty of an offence under section 57(1) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. He was fined �150. The charge against him was that on 17 February 1995 he was found at the rear of Cambuslang Travel Agents at an address in Cambuslang, without lawful authority to be there, so that in all the circumstances it might reasonably be inferred that he intended to commit theft there.

We do not need to go into the factual circumstances in any great detail. There is an area behind the travel agents' premises which is caged in. It is not disputed that the appellant was there. It is not disputed that he had no lawful authority to be there. The question is whether, in all the circumstances, the magistrate was entitled to convict and draw the inference that the appellant was there intending to commit theft there.

The appellant's own account, putting it shortly, was that he had entered the caged area in order to urinate. He had in fact done so, and after doing so he had noticed some old brochures behind the travel agents premises. He went over to look at them and was interested in the pictures which they contained. That is his explanation. It can be seen that it falls into two parts. There is an explanation for going into the caged area (in order to urinate) and there is an explanation for having lingered there for some time (his interest in the brochures).

Plainly, if the magistrate rejected these explanations and was entitled to do so on any sound basis, so that there was no explanation for being there, he would be entitled, in the absence of explanation and having regard to the place and time, to draw the inference of an intention to commit theft.