Certainly this is a change in behavior from the xul client, and makes it impossible to check in an item that is still checked out when deleted.
However, any fix for this should avoid existing behavior in the xul client when a checked out deleted item and active item both exist with the same barcode. In the xul client, showing item details for the deleted item in actuality retrieves the active item since the lookup is done by barcode.
Certainly this is a change in behavior from the xul client, and makes it impossible to check in an item that is still checked out when deleted.
However, any fix for this should avoid existing behavior in the xul client when a checked out deleted item and active item both exist with the same barcode. In the xul client, showing item details for the deleted item in actuality retrieves the active item since the lookup is done by barcode.