Whereas Valjean smashed a window to reach his prize, De Geynst simply took the muffins out of a waste container outside the store in Rupelmonde. The offence is aggravated into robbery with violence since he fought with the manager of the shop when he was caught.

The case raises an interesting point of law: Is it possible to steal something that has been thrown away?

De Geynst is a "freecycler", known in the US as "dumpster divers" and in the UK as "skippers". They see the dumping of perfectly edible food by shops as an offence against poverty and hunger and consider it acceptable to raid bins for food and sometimes other products that can still be used. De Geynst started skipping when he was, for a time, homeless. Then he found out how much free food was available, and it became a point of principle.

According to the consumer organisation OIVO, Flanders chucks away about 66,000 tonnes of food every year. While the principles of freecycling state you should only take as much as you need, De Geynst started passing the surplus on to food collectives.

His lawyer asked the court last week to consider the question of how goods can be stolen when their owner has clearly given them up and asked for the assault to be seen as the result of provocation. The prosecutor was implacable: "De Geynst can play at Santa Claus all he likes, but he needs to do it with his own property."

A verdict is expected within a month. www.freecycle.org