I Jumbo's case, I think the words "you know it's not really yours to keep" might come into

play

If you genuinely don't realise, eg because you are very wealthy, and you spend it, then you are OK. It's an equitable defence to a claim for restitution, known as "change of position".

In criminal law, whether you genuinely didn't realise would be a question for the jury to decide.

I had a dispute on those lines once, acting for a wealthy man against his bank (Nat West). They had mistakenly credited him with 500k odd, he hadn't realised, it got swept automatically into his money market speculation account, he'd made a lot more money on while it was there. As soon as they explained what had happened he paid it all back; the argument was then over whether he coudl keep his winnings.

Posted By: Old Git, Dec 7, 16:45:44