This case clarifies the meaning of intention to permanently deprive under s1(1) and s6(1) of the Theft Act 1968. It establishes that:

• Borrowing property for a short period, even if done dishonestly, does not constitute theft unless the item is returned in a state where all its “goodness or virtue” has gone.

• The judgment restricts the scope of s6(1) and confirms that copyright value or economic consequences are not part of the statutory definition of “property” for theft.

• It also confirms that where the conduct amounts instead to a breach of copyright, conspiracy to defraud cannot be reactivated if a statutory offence exists.

• Lloyd, a cinema projectionist, secretly removed feature films due to be shown at the Odeon Cinema.

• He lent them to co-conspirators, who made master video copies for mass production of pirated tapes.

• The films were always returned within a few hours to avoid detection and were still usable for cinema projection.

• The copying operation caused large commercial losses to distributors, but the films themselves were physically unchanged.

• The defendants were charged with conspiracy to steal the feature films, not the copyright.

• They were convicted at trial.

Whether a dishonest agreement to remove feature films temporarily, return them within hours, but use them to produce hundreds of pirated copies, thereby reducing their commercial value, amounts to a conspiracy to steal, given the requirement of intent to permanently deprive under the Theft Act 1968. 

Appeal allowed; convictions quashed.

The defendants did not intend to permanently deprive the cinema of the films. Their intention was the opposite: the success of the scheme depended on returning the films quickly.

s6(1) Theft Act did not apply:

• The films were not returned with their “virtue” or “goodness” gone.

• The borrowing was not equivalent to an outright taking or disposal.

Conspiracy to defraud could not be substituted due to R v Ayres: where conduct amounts to a statutory offence (here, copyright breaches), common law conspiracy cannot be revived.

1. Temporary borrowing is not theft unless the intention is to return the property in a fundamentally changed state (where all its value/virtue is gone) or in circumstances equivalent to an outright taking.

2. s6(1) applies only in exceptional cases; courts must interpret it narrowly to avoid extending liability beyond pre-1968 larceny principles.

3. Economic loss or harm caused by copying or piracy does not transform temporary borrowing into theft; the physical property itself must be rendered valueless.

4. Common law conspiracy to defraud cannot be charged where the underlying conduct amounts to a statutory offence, even if that statutory offence involves dishonesty.