Theft

• Define theft? Where is it found?

  Found in S.1 of the theft Act 1968

  • dishonesty (s.2)
  • Appropriates (s.3)
  • Property (s.4)
  • Belonging to another (s.5)
  • Intention of permanently depriving (s.6) 
• What is appropriation. Give cases?


  Assuming rights of an owner results in appropriation. E.g Taking, destroying, selling, hiring ,using , lending.

  • Pitham v Hehl 1997 – furniture belonging to another person was sold.
  • Morris 1983  – switched price labels to buy an item cheaper than it was. He was arrested on his way to the checkout. 
• Case examples of consenting?

  • Lawrence 1972 – taxi driver helped himself to the passenger’s wallet. 
  • Hinks – victim naive and had a low IQ. £60,000. Valid gift but was held to be theft because decent people would realise it is not right to accept a gift from the victim
  • Atakpu and Abrahams 1994 :hired cars in Germany and Belgium. Fake driving licence. Arrested in England. Appropriated in another country so not guilty
• Property


  Includes money (coins, banknotes), personal property (CDs, TVs, dead body parts), real property (land, buildings), things in action (bank account, cheques), and other intangible property (copyright, knowledge)
• Bodily fluids such as urine are property that is capable of being stolen (R v Welsh, 1974)
• Confidential information itself is not property for the purposes of s4 of the Theft Act (Oxford v Moss, 1978)
• In Oxford v Moss (1978), the defendant got a hold of an examination paper, read its content and returned it. He was found not guilty, and the conviction was quashed.
• Things which cannot be stolen??

  • Section 4(3): Plants growing wild cannot be stolen, but it is possible to steal cultivated plants.
  • Section 4(4): Wild animals cannot be stolen unless held in captivity, such as in a zoo.
• Things in action?

  • A right that can be legally enforced. E.g if you have money in the bank you have a legal right to paid that sum of money by the bank.
  • R v kohn 1979- D (accountant) his job is to write cheques for the company to pay off it debts. He wrote cheques to pay off his own personal debts. Held: D guilt of stealing thing in a action 
• Belonging to another (5)?


  5(1) of the Theft Act 1968- possession or control of the property or any proprietary interest in it is sufficient.
• s.5(3) property received under obligation. Give cases?

  Hall –

  Klineberg and Marsden

  Davidge v Bunnett (1974)

  Wain (1995)
• Hall


  • People paid deposit to a travel agent for a trip to America. Travel agent had to pay the money into a bank account which he did. He could not give tickets or return the money. Not convicted of theft.
• Klineberg and Marsden


  • Defendants had not retained or dealt with property or its proceeds in a particular way so were guilty of theft
• Davidge v Bunnett (1974)


  • Defendant was given money by her flatmates to pay the bill but she brought presents instead. Guilty of theft.
• Wain (1995)


  • Same amount of money raised for charity must be retained.
• Possession cases??


  • R v Turner (No. 2) (1971)
  • R v Woodman (1974)
  • R (on the application of Ricketts) v Basildon Magistrates’ Court (2010)
  • Webster 
• Actus reus of theft?


  -appropriation

  -property

  -belonging to another
• Men’s Rea of theft?


  -dishonesty

  -intention to permanently deprive
• • R v Turner (No. 2) (1971)?


  -Defendant took his car from repairer without paying using spare key.  Repairer had right to retain car until payment. That right over the car was stolen.
• • R v Woodman (1974)-All scrap on a site had been sold and buyer removed it but left some behind subsequently taken by defendant. The scrap left behind was capable of being stolen.
• • R (on the application of Ricketts) v Basildon Magistrates’ Court (2010)-Goods left outside charity shop as a donation to the charity. These goods could be stolen as they either belonged to the donor of the goods or the charity shop.
• • Webster – Defendant received a medal as an award and received another one in the post which he sold. This was theft.
• • R V ghosh (1982) - established the test on whether the defendant was dishonest 

  1. Was defendant conduct dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest person?
  2. Did the defendant realise that reasonable and honest people regard his conduct as dishonest? 
• • Ivey v Genting Casinos (2017) - the Supreme Court commented, obitar dicta, that the second part of the test in ghosh is not required. 
  • Booth & Another v R (2020) - lord chief justice : “we are satisfied that the decision in Ivey is correct, to be preferred, and that there is no obstacle in the doctrine of stare decisis to its being applied as the law of England and wales. 
• S.2 – behaviour which is not dishonest:

  • If the person has a right to deprive the person of it s2 (1) (a) 
  • He would have been given the consent if the person knew of it s2 (1) (b)
  • Person who the property belongs to cannot be traced. S2 (1)(c) 
• • R v Small (1987) The defendant believed that an old car had been abandoned, so fixed it up and took it. The defendant honestly believed he had the legal right to take the car, so was not dishonest. 
• Genuine belief. Cases?

  • R v Small (1987)
  • R v Holden (1991) 
• • R v Holden (1991) -The defendant was charged with the theft of scrap tyres from his workplace. As the test is subjective, a person was not dishonest if he genuinely believed that he had a legal right to the property.
• • R v Robinson (1977) illustrate this ‘claim of right’ defence.
• R v Robinson 1977 - The defendant went to collect money he was owed, and kept a £5 note which dropped out of the debtor’s husband’s pocket. Held: There was no theft because he had an honest belief that he was entitled to the money.
• • Intention to permanently deprive s6?

  • - D treats the property as his own to dispose of regardless of the owner’s rights
  • R v Raphael (2008) 
  • DPP v Lavender (1994)
• R v Raphael (2008) - D stole v’s car by force, then demanded payments for its return. HELD: In placing a condition on the return of the car, he was treating the car as his own to dispose of regardless of the owners rights, so had intention to permanently deprive. 
• • DPP v Lavender (1994) - Defendant used doors from a council property to replace damaged doors in his girlfriend’s council flat. Defendant was dealing with the doors as his own by moving them from one property to another without permission.
• D has borrowed property in circumstances equivalent to outright taking or disposal of it.

  • R v Velumyl (1989)
  • R v Lloyd (1985)
• • R v Velumyl (1989) - Defendant took cash from the office safe. He was going to replace the money later. He had the intention of permanently depriving the company of the banknotes, even if he intended to replace them.
• • R v Lloyd (1985) - The projectionist at a local cinema gave the defendant a film to make an illegal copy. By returning the film in its original state, it was not possible to prove an intention to permanently deprive.
• • Property which is illegal to possess should count as property ? R v Smith (Michael) and other (2011)