If someone stole your car, would anyone suggest this wasn't so serious an offence if the vehicle was later found abandoned and in a repairable condition? Hey, you got your car back when it was all over. Or if a burglar broke into your home and stole favourite, valuable or useful items, would the fact that the house wasn't also set alight and reduced to rubble mean that the burglar should then be handed a lesser sentence? There was no visible damage, not even chipped paintwork, to show for the invasion of a person's private sanctuary. What if a team of professional criminals broke into The Louvre and swiped the world's most beloved paintings, then later admitted, "Sure, it was us!", should they then be made to do a spot of community service, perhaps, since no real harm has been done? The paintings survived. And if these same thieves claimed they'd merely misunderstood the exact meaning of the phrase "public ownership", would any jury belie