text: Banker cleared of stealing Nico Rosberg F1 replica steering wheel from Mercedes-Benz World - Surrey Live
  Banker cleared of stealing Nico Rosberg F1 replica steering wheel from Mercedes-Benz World
  A 48-year-old man admitted taking the item but said he believed he had been given permission and just "wanted to help Mercedes-Benz World"
  15:56, 17 FEB 2015
  Updated 15:46, 18 FEB 2015
  A banker who was accused of stealing a £2,000 replica Formula 1 steering wheel from Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands has been cleared after magistrates agreed he was exposed to a "cruel prank".
  Colin Butcher, 48, of Whitmoor Lane in Guildford, was charged with theft after he took the item from the showroom in Weybridge on August 19 last year.
  At a trial held at Staines Magistrates' Court on Monday (February 16), prosecutor Johnson Shittu said Mr Butcher was seen on camera parking his personalised black Porsche in the car park at around 4.30pm.
  CCTV then showed him entering the building and waiting around the Formula 1 display area, Mr Shittu said.
  He added that Mr Butcher then opened his jacket, put it over the steering wheel and "yanked" it from the display at around 4.55pm, before walking out of the building with the steering wheel under his arm.
  Mr Butcher, a managing director of oil and gas at Lloyds Bank, pleaded not guilty to theft with intention to permanently deprive, insisting he took the steering wheel under the impression that he had consent.
  Henry Hughes, defending, said: "He works in one of the most tightly regulated sectors and it [a theft conviction] would end his career. This is his whole life on the line.
  "He fully accepted he went in and took the steering wheel. He said he had been approached by someone who claimed to work for Mercedes-Benz World and asked him to take it."
  Colin Butcher was a frequent visitor to the site
  Mr Butcher said a man wearing a Mercedes-Benz World uniform approached him at Snetterton Racecourse in Norfolk in early August 2014.
  He said his name was Charlie Poole - presumably aware that a Charlotte Poole was an employee at Mercedes-Benz World, according to the defence - and asked if Mr Butcher knew anyone who could repair steering wheels, the court heard.
  Mr Butcher said: "I was flattered. I have been involved with motor racing as a collector and a spectator - I have been approached by other people in the past. I wanted to help Mercedes-Benz World, it was a favour."
  The court was told the man at the racecourse said he had seen the defendant at the showroom before - he has visited every six to eight weeks since it opened - and that three black dials were missing from a steering wheel and the Mercedes badge in the centre was cracked.
  Mr Butcher, who has contacts within the motor racing industry, said he knew a man named Timothy Scott, the director of a manufacturing company for such parts.
  He handed his business card to the man and Mr Butcher received a call a week later, the court heard, when they arranged to meet at Mercedes-Benz World on August 19 between 4.45pm and 5pm for him to collect the steering wheel.
  Magistrates were told Mr Butcher was waiting at the site for 'Mr Poole', when he received a phone call saying he was running late but advising that he was free to take the wheel.
  The defendant then took the wheel, which was not securely fastened, put it in a bag and acknowledged the receptionist, who he knew by name, on his way out.
  Police were called by Mercedes-Benz World the day after and three officers carried out a consensual search of his property, which was agreed to by his wife as Mr Butcher was absent.
  But the officers seized a different steering wheel from Mr Butcher's collection of 23 years, so he contacted them on August 21 and invited them to collect the one he had taken from Mercedes-Benz World.
  The court heard the defendant wrote a letter intended to be handed to Mercedes-Benz World stating how "devastated" he was about what had happened.
  He said: "I believed I took the wheel in good faith. It would be utterly incongruous with my collection [to keep it]."
  Mr Butcher added that the steering wheel in question was a replica of the one used by Nico Rosberg in 2012, when he came ninth in the F1 world championship, whereas his collection had a "world champion" theme.
  "I have been naive and foolish," he said. "I should have checked with Mercedes-Benz World and obtained further validation on the day."
  The steering wheel was a replica of one used by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in 2012 (Image: Action Images/Hoch Zwei)
  Mr Butcher said that since the incident he had been "pestered with untraceable calls all hours of the day", had his website repeatedly hacked and was sent an unsolicited message saying that his presence at court was in the public domain.
  "If I wanted that item I would have probably hired a hoodie to do it," he said,
  "I wouldn't spend 20 minutes in the showroom or [have] introduced myself to the receptionist. I would have disguised myself."
  Mr Hughes said it was an extremely unusual case and it would have been "career and life suicide" for Mr Butcher to carry out a theft.
  He said: "This is one of the most striking reminders that the burden of proof is as it is in criminal courts... 99 times out of 100, what you see when you come in [to court] is right.
  "This is the one in 1,000, one in 100, where something unusual is happening. If you accept this, then you will be sure he is a victim of a cruel prank."
  Mr Hughes added that his client was a nice man who had been trying to go out of his way to help someone else.
  Clearing Mr Butcher of the charge, Viki Royce, chairman of the bench, said: "We find that there was no intention to permanently deprive Mercedes-Benz World of the steering wheel and no dishonest intent."