Omar left his jacket in a pub and Alice picks it up after he left and chased after him, but by the time she got out and looked around on the street, he was already on the bus that rounded the corner and nowhere in site. Alice turns open the pockets searching for any details that could identify the owner, and also leaves her details with the pub manager in case the owner of the jacket contacts them again in search of his jacket.
However, after exhausting all possible methods of tracking down the owner of Omar’s jacket, she is still unsuccessful. A week passes, then a month, then a year, while this jacket is still in Alice’s possession, and she remains keen to return it to its owner but meanwhile occasionally makes use of it in a pinch like while hers is drying or on her way home from the pub when it unexpectedly begins raining.
Is it unlawful for Alice to use it for her own benefit while it remains in her possession, and if despite making all reasonable efforts to identify and contact the jacket’s owner, Alice has failed, after a certain along amount of time passing, or after certain events occurring, does Alice ever gain ownership of the item such that she would be entitled to deny the item to Omar, should Omar ever make contact with her via the pub, or spot her wearing it while on the bus one day?
