paper 1 crime property offences

theft

statutory offence under s1 of theft act 1968

dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive them of it

AR- appropriation of property belonging to another

MR- dishonestly with intention to permanently deprive

theft (appropriation)

any assumption from a person on the rights of an owner (pitham and hehl)

later appropriation- situations where D came across property without stealing it but then assumes rights by keeping it or acting as an owner

consent appropriation- appropriation can take place with consent (lawrence)

theft (property)

land, money ect

confidential information cant be stolen (oxford v moss) fungus fruit or foliage cant be stolen or wild creatures

theft (belonging to another)

property shall be regarded as belonging to any person having possession or control over it

possession or control- usually owner is in possession and control but prosecution doesnt have to prove who the owner is (turner)

property received under obligation can be treated as belonging to another (hall)

property received by mistake- where a person receives property by mistake and is under a legal obligation to return it the property is regarded as belonging to the person entitled to its return (A-G reference)

theft (dishonesty)

must be dishonest when appropriating property

test is subjective as its what D honestly believed (holden)

Barton and Booth test- 1. what was the defendants actual state of belief as to the facts

2. was the conduct dishonest by the standards of an ordinary decent person

theft (intention to permanently deprive)

if intends to make V loose property forever

where D intends to treat property as their own

property borrowed equivalent to outright taking (lavander)

conditional intent- D picks up property to assess whether there is anything worth taking (easom)

robbery

statutory offence under s8 of theft act 1968 with max sentence life

a person is guilty of robbery if they steal and immediately before or at the time or doing so, in order to do so use force on any other person or seeks to put anyone in fear

AR- theft and use of force/fear (robinson)

only a minimal amount of force is needed (dawson and james)

fear of the use of force - the threat of force is sufficient even if v not scared (R v DPP)

MR- intent to use force in order to steal and MR of theft

the force must be used in order to steal (vinnal)

burglary

statutory offence under s9 theft act 1968 with max sentence of 14 years

s91a- d enters a building or part of a building as a trespasser with intent to steal anything in the building, inflict GBH to any person or do unlawful damage to the building

s91b- d enters building or part of a building as a trespasser and steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or inflicts/attempts to inflict GBH

burglary (entry)

not defined in 1968 act

(collins) said a trespass must involve substantail and effective entry into a building

building includes inhabited places such as houseboats or caravans (rodmell)

burglary (trespasser)

where someone has permission to enter they are not a trespasser (collins)

going beyond permission- where D goes beyond permission they are then considered a trespasser (smith and jones)