Thief Acquitted of Arson After Accident

You can actually burn down a building while robbing it and get away with the fire charge.

A thief in Scotland broke into a caravan to steal booze and used a lighter to see in the dark.

The lighter malfunctioned, burned his hand, and he dropped it. The caravan was destroyed,

and he just ran away without calling for help. But the High Court overturned his conviction

for reckless fireraising. They ruled that because dropping the lighter was a genuine accident,

he didn't have the criminal intent to start a fire. The law says you judge the mindset

at the moment the fire starts, not the cowardly running away afterwards.