Romanians who took disabled teenager’s wheelchair for scrap are cleared of theft because they ‘thought it was rubbish’
- Gheorghita Stan, 28, and Florin Axima, 36, dragged chair into van
- Wheelchair’s owner Jack Benton, 17, suffers from rare Moebius Syndrome
- Pair, both from Essex, spotted it outside teenager’s aunt’s home
- Court heard the men made ‘reasonable assumption’ it had been abandoned
A pair of Romanian ‘rag and bone’ men who took a disabled teenager’s wheelchair to sell for scrap have been cleared of theft.
A court heard Gheorghita Stan and Florin Axima, who dragged 17-year-old Jack Benton’s wheelchair into their van after spotting it outside his aunt’s home in Watford, thought the chair was being thrown away.
In fact, Jack’s father had deliberately left it outside the house along with his son’s schoolbag ready for him to board a bus to college.
