Where the Crown's circumstantial case depends on an indispensable intermediate fact — here, the purpose for which a lease was entered into — the trial judge must direct the jury that that fact must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. On the question of retrial, the Crown is held to the way it conducted the initial trial; the possibility that the case might be run differently is not a basis for ordering a new trial. Where the Crown's own expert witness conceded that the accused's innocent explanation fitted the circumstances, a reasonable jury could not convict beyond reasonable doubt.
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