Theft

Question 1

s.1(a) a person is guilty of theft if…

Answer 1

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)

Question 2

s.3 appropriation

Answer 2

treating the property as their own/ any assumption of the rights of the owner. This includes selling or destroying it

Question 3

Pitham v Hehl

Answer 3

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

Question 4

R v Morris

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Lawrence

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Gomez

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Hinks

Answer 7

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?

Question 8

s.4 property

Answer 8

money and all other property, real or personal, including things in action and other intangible property

Question 9

money

Answer 9

coins and banknotes of any currency

Question 10

real property

Answer 10

> 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

Question 11

personal property

Answer 11

includes all moveable items such as; books, jewellery, cat and clothes

Question 12

R v Kelly and Lindsay

Answer 12

dead bodies and body parts can be personal property for the purposes of theft

Question 13

other case examples of personal property…

Answer 13

R v Herbert -hair
R v Rothery - blood
R v Welsh - urine

Question 14

things in action

Answer 14

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

Question 15

other intangible property

Answer 15

refers to others rights which have no physical presence but can be stolen under the Theft Act

Question 16

Oxford v Moss

Answer 16

confidential info is not property as you can’t intend to permanently to deprive

Question 17

things which cannot be stolen;

Answer 17

s.4(3) plants growing in the wild
s.4(4) wild animals cannot be stolen unless they’ve been captured

Question 18

s.5 belonging to another

Answer 18

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

Question 19

turner no.2

Answer 19

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

Question 20

R v Basildon MC

Answer 20

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

Question 21

proprietary interest

Answer 21

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’’

Question 22

s.5(2) trust property

Answer 22

tis is where property is held on trust

Question 23

s.5(3) property received under an obligation

Answer 23

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

Question 24

R v Hall

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Davidge v Bennett

Answer 25

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

Question 26

s.5(4) property obtained by mistake

Answer 26

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

Question 27

AGs reference

Answer 27

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

Question 28

s.2 dishonestly

Answer 28

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

Question 29

situations which are not dishonest…

Answer 29

> 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

Question 30

The Ivey test

Answer 30

1. What was the Ds knowledge or belief as to the facts?
2. was this dishonest according to the ordinary decent people?

Question 31

Ivey test confirmed in Barton and Booth

Answer 31

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

Question 32

professions - Ghosh test

Answer 32

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?

Question 33

s.6 intention to permanently deprive
R v Marshall

Answer 33

> 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

Question 34

Lavender

Answer 34

> 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

Question 35

borrowing/lending

Answer 35

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

Question 36

velumyl

Answer 36

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

Question 37

conditional intent - Easom

Answer 37

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