What must be proved to convict someone of theft or robbery?
Property offences: the elements of theft under the Theft Act 1968 (appropriation, property, belonging to another, dishonesty and intention to permanently deprive) and robbery.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Law property offences topic, covering the five elements of theft under the Theft Act 1968 (appropriation, property, belonging to another, dishonesty and intention to permanently deprive) and the offence of robbery.
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to define theft and break it into its five elements, define robbery as an aggravated theft, support each element with a leading case, and apply the offences to a scenario.
The actus reus of theft
The mens rea of theft
The intention permanently to deprive (section 6) is satisfied by treating the property as one's own to dispose of regardless of the owner's rights, including borrowing where all the goodness or value is gone (R v Lloyd) or where money is replaced with different notes (R v Velumyl).
Robbery
Robbery (section 8 Theft Act 1968) is committed where a person steals and, immediately before or at the time of stealing and in order to steal, uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put a person in fear of force. There must be a complete theft (R v Robinson, where a genuine belief in a legal right to the money meant no theft and so no robbery), the force can be slight (R v Dawson and James, a nudge to unbalance the victim) and applied to obtain the property (R v Clouden, wrenching a shopping bag counts as force on the person). The force must be at the time of stealing, and the courts treat appropriation as a continuing act so that force used while making off can still be "at the time of stealing" (R v Hale, R v Lockley). The force must also be used in order to steal: violence for some other motive, with theft only as an afterthought, is not robbery.
Robbery is an indictable-only offence carrying a maximum of life imprisonment, reflecting that it combines a property offence with the use or threat of personal violence. This is why a problem question must first prove a complete theft (all five elements) before the robbery analysis can even begin: if any element of theft fails, the most that remains is a non-fatal offence for the force used.
How property offences are examined
Theft and robbery reward a strict element-by-element method. Examiners want each of the five theft elements applied to the named defendant with authority, the modern Ivey test rather than Ghosh, and a clear sequencing point: robbery is built on a complete theft, so the theft analysis must come first.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 202010 marksMia picks up a coat from a cafe cloakroom intending to keep it, then pushes the attendant who tries to stop her and runs out. Discuss whether Mia is liable for theft and robbery. [10 marks]Show worked answer →
Apply the five elements of theft to Mia. Appropriation: she assumed a right of the owner by taking the coat (section 3, R v Morris). Property and belonging to another: the coat is tangible property in the possession or control of the cloakroom or its owner (sections 4 to 5). Dishonesty: apply the Ivey v Genting Casinos test, noting none of the section 2 exceptions applies. Intention permanently to deprive: she meant to keep it (section 6).
For robbery (section 8), theft must be complete, and force must be used on any person immediately before or at the time of stealing and in order to steal. The push on the attendant as she leaves engages the continuing-appropriation principle in R v Hale. Markers reward applying each theft element to Mia, then the robbery elements, with authority and a conclusion.
AQA 20224 marksExplain how dishonesty is determined for the purposes of theft following Ivey v Genting Casinos. [4 marks]Show worked answer →
First, the section 2 Theft Act 1968 exceptions are checked: a belief in a legal right to the property, a belief the owner would consent, or a belief the owner cannot be found by reasonable steps each negates dishonesty. If none applies, the Ivey v Genting Casinos (2017) test is used: ascertain the defendant's actual state of knowledge or belief as to the facts, then ask whether the conduct was dishonest by the objective standards of ordinary decent people. Markers reward noting that this replaced the second, subjective limb of the old Ghosh test.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Law (7162) specification — AQA (2017)