Advise Penny and Bernadette of any potential criminal liability they each may have, together with any defences that may be available to them.

Question 

On Saturday morning Penny went to Primarni to pick up some new clothes and accessories to wear to a party she was attending that evening with her friends. As she was browsing the accessories section her best friend, Amy, video-called her. Distracted by the call, Penny, without realising it, placed the earrings she had in her hand, in her handbag and not in her basket.

During the call, Penny showed Amy the dress she had chosen to wear that evening. Amy, who had bought the same dress earlier that week, told Penny that she should put the dress back on the rail and she could borrow Amy’s dress. Amy advised that she was meeting Bernadette in town to get their nails and lashes done but she would leave the dress in a bag behind the bin at the back of her house for Penny to collect on her way home. They ended the call and Penny promptly left the store to make her way over to Amy’s to collect the dress. When Penny arrived at Amy’s, the dress was not behind the bin. Through the kitchen window Penny could see that the dress had been left on the on the table. Penny tried the back door. It was locked but she could see the key in the door.

Keen to try on the dress ASAP, Penny smashed the door pane so she could reach in and unlock the door from the inside. Penny assumed that Amy would understand and would video-call her on the way home to explain. Penny would also offer to pay for all Amy’s drinks that evening to make- up for the broken window. When Penny got home she saw the earrings in her bag and realised what she had done. She decided that the earrings would look cute with the dress and decided to keep them.

Penny, Amy and Bernadette meet at The Bar that evening. Bernadette is short on cash having spent all her money on her nails and eyelashes. When she thinks that nobody is looking she slips in to the storeroom and places a bottle of gin in her handbag. She then returns to her friends on the dancefloor and tops up her cranberry juice with the gin.

Advise Penny and Bernadette of any potential criminal liability they each may have, together with any defences that may be available to them.
(100 marks)

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