Theft Flashcards
s.1 Theft Act 1968
s.1(a) a person is guilty of theft if…
he dishonestly (s.2), appropriates (s.3) property (s.4), belonging to another (s.5), with intention of permanently depriving the other of it (s.6)
s.3 appropriation
treating the property as their own/ any assumption of the rights of the owner. This includes selling or destroying it
Pitham v Hehl
D offered to sell furniture in his house belonging to a friend who was in prison. D had appropriated it by assuming the rights of the owner. Didn’t matter that the furniture hadn’t been removed
R v Morris
D switched price labels of 2 items in the supermarket for a lower price - he hadn’t gone through checkout when he was arrested. It was the owners right to put price labels on the goods and d assumed these rights
Lawrence
italian student spoke little English and was overcharged by a taxi driver, who took the money out of his wallet himself. there had been appropriation
Gomez
D worked as a shop assistant and persuaded the manager to accept 2 cheques , he knew had been stolen, in payment for a good. This was classed as appropriation
Hinks
woman befriended an older man with limited intelligence and accepted Daily Cash payments from him. Over 8 months she got £60000, she claimed were gifts.
acceptance of ‘‘gifts’’ can contribute to appropriation
Question still remains whether any ordinary person of the public would find this dishonest?
s.4 property
money and all other property, real or personal, including things in action and other intangible property
money
coins and banknotes of any currency
real property
> a trustee has rights over land has the rights to sell but only to benefit the children
can commit theft to things forming part of the land e.g. apples or soil
personal property
includes all moveable items such as; books, jewellery, cat and clothes
R v Kelly and Lindsay
dead bodies and body parts can be personal property for the purposes of theft
other case examples of personal property…
R v Herbert -hair
R v Rothery - blood
R v Welsh - urine
things in action
a right which can be enforced against another person by action in law e.g. bank
R v Kohn - D was an accountant who wrote off cheques to cover his own debt
other intangible property
refers to others rights which have no physical presence but can be stolen under the Theft Act
Oxford v Moss
confidential info is not property as you can’t intend to permanently to deprive
things which cannot be stolen;
s.4(3) plants growing in the wild
s.4(4) wild animals cannot be stolen unless they’ve been captured
s.5 belonging to another
property will be regarded as belonging to any other person having possession or control of it, or having in it any property rights or interests
turner no.2
possession or control
D left his car at a garage to be repaired when it almost finished he used his spare key to drive it home during the night without paying.The garage was in possession, they have a right to retain possession of the item being repaired until payment is made.
D was guilty of stealing his own car
R v Basildon MC
1st offence - D took bags from outside a charity shop, court stated this property was abandoned until the charity shop took possession
2md offence - D had taken bags from inside a charity bin, in this case they were property of the charity
proprietary interest
where the D, owns and is in possession of it, they can still be guilty of stealing it, if another person has proprietary interest in it.
Still guilty of theft even if property didn’t technically ‘‘belong to another’’
s.5(2) trust property
tis is where property is held on trust
s.5(3) property received under an obligation
property is given to a person with instructions to deal with it in a certain way, the ownership in the property is deemed to remain to the giver.
They have a right to handle property conditionally
R v Hall
travel agent received deposits from clients for air trips to America. D paid the money into the firms bank account but never organised the trip and was unable to return the money.
When D received the money he wasn’t under any obligation to deal with it in a certain way
Davidge v Bennett
D given money by her flatmates to pay the gas bill, instead used it to buy Christmas presents. There was a legal obligation to deal with the money in a particular way and as she had not, she was guilty of theft
s.5(4) property obtained by mistake
where a person receives property by mistake and is under obligation to return the property , a failure to restore the property will amount to theft
AGs reference
overpayment made by Ds employer. D was ‘under obligation to make restoration’ if she didn’t then there was appropriation of property.Whether D was guilty of theft will depend on whether she acted dishonestly
s.2 dishonestly
it is immaterial whether the appropriation is made with a view to gain or is made for the thieves benefit - gain doesn’t actually have to be made
situations which are not dishonest…
> s.2(1)(a) a D is not dishonest if they honestly believe they have a legal right to the property, as in the case of Holden
> s.2(1)(b) a D isn’t dishonest if they honestly believe the owner would consent to the taking
> s.2(1)(c) a D isn’t dishonest if they honestly believe the owner cannot be found having taken reasonable steps, as seen in Small
The Ivey test
- What was the Ds knowledge or belief as to the facts?
- was this dishonest according to the ordinary decent people?
Ivey test confirmed in Barton and Booth
residents of a care home, over 20yrs, had been manipulated to give large cash gifts and sign over ownership of cars to the owners
apply standards of ordinary decent people
professions - Ghosh test
R v Ghosh - D was a doctor acting as a locum consultant in a hospital, he claimed fees for an operation he never carried out
1. was what was done dishonest according to the standards of reasonable and honest people?
2. did the D realise that what he was doing was dishonest by those standards?
s.6 intention to permanently deprive
R v Marshall
> disposal of property amounts to taking
D obtained travel tickets from the London Underground and sold them to others. D had intended to treat the property as their own to dispose of, regardless of the others rights the tickets still belonged to London Underground
Lavender
> taking doors from council property amounted to an outright taking
D took doors from a council property to replace damaged doors in his gfs council flat. Even though the doors were still in possession of the council it had been transferred without permission from the council, dealing with doors as if it was his own property
borrowing/lending
s.6 states that borrowing is not theft unless it is for a period of time and in the circumstances making it equivalent to outright taking or disposal
velumyl
D took £1050 from office safe. He said he’d replace the money once his friend had repaid him. Had intention to permanently deprive the company of those specific bank notes even if what he replaced it with was worth the same amount
conditional intent - Easom
D picked up a handbag in a cinema, rummaged through the contents and replaced it without taking anything.
conviction for theft was quashed
there was no evidence that the D had intended to permanently deprive the owner of the bag contents
