Sophie owns a small record shop called ‘Exiled Records’ that sells rare records. Kevin is one of her shop assistants, who works with Sophie on a pro-bono basis. Kevin quit his previous job as a supermarket attendant to take up his position at ‘Exiled Records’. Despite not getting paid, he prefers working at the record store, as he thinks working as a supermarket attendant is mindless and boring. Kevin is also a budding DJ, so he considers this an opportunity to sample rare records and to learn from the different DJs who frequent the store. Sophie is already an established DJ. She allows Kevin to borrow records and play them at home, on the condition that Kevin will always ask for her permission first.

On April 1st, Sophie was not at work, as she was DJ-ing in Dublin. Kevin opened the shop. Before closing he borrowed an extremely rare Nirvana record, containing previously unreleased tracks. He did not want to disturb Sophie when she was away, and in any case he assumed she would have no problem with him taking the record. He also thought Sophie would not miss the record since she did not take it with her to Dublin.

Sophie returned from Dublin at 8 o’clock in the evening of the 2nd of April. She was to play that night at an event in East London, celebrating Nirvana’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She went into her shop to pick some records. The Nirvana record was one of them. Being unable to find it, and unable to locate Kevin, she called the police. The record was worth £1000. Sophie had to cancel her gig, as the Nirvana record formed the key part of her set-list, and without it she could not really do her act. Kevin returned the record the next day.

Consider Kevin’s criminal liability, adding critical comments where you think the law is unsatisfactory.

Please note
Word count: 1250, with a 5% word margin either way.
You must include footnotes and a bibliography of sources used.
Footnotes count towards the word count but the bibliography does not.

Sophie owns a small record shop called ‘Exiled Records’ that sells...