Property offences: theft and its five elements under the Theft Act 1968, robbery as theft with force, and burglary under section 9, with their actus reus and mens rea.

What this dot point is asking

This dot point covers the property offences under the Theft Act 1968: theft, robbery and burglary. You need the five elements of theft, the definition of robbery (theft plus force) and the two forms of burglary under section 9, each with actus reus, mens rea and the leading cases. WJEC tests application to scenarios, advising which property offence the defendant has committed.

The answer

Theft: the five elements

• Appropriation (s3): assuming the rights of an owner (R v Morris), which can occur even with the owner's consent (R v Gomez) and even where a valid gift is received (R v Hinks).
• Property (s4): money and all other property, real or personal.
• Belonging to another (s5): including property the defendant is under a legal obligation to deal with in a particular way (Davidge v Bunnett).
• Dishonesty: judged by the Ivey v Genting test (the defendant's genuine belief as to the facts, then whether their conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people). Section 2 sets out three situations that are not dishonest: belief in a legal right, belief in the owner's consent, or belief the owner cannot be found.
• Intention to permanently deprive (s6): including treating the property as one's own to dispose of regardless of the owner's rights (R v Velumyl).

Robbery

Burglary

Burglary (section 9) has two forms:

• Section 9(1)(a): entering a building or part of a building as a trespasser, with intent at the time of entry to steal, inflict GBH, or commit criminal damage.
• Section 9(1)(b): having entered a building or part as a trespasser, stealing or attempting to steal, or inflicting or attempting to inflict GBH.

The shared elements are entry (which must be effective, R v Ryan), a building or part of a building (R v Walkington, entering behind a shop counter), and trespass (entering without permission or in excess of permission, R v Smith and Jones). The difference is timing: under (a) the intent exists at entry; under (b) the further offence is committed after entry.

Examples in context

The appropriation cases show how wide theft has become. In R v Gomez a shop manager who accepted worthless cheques was held to have appropriated the goods even though the owner consented to their removal, and in R v Hinks the House of Lords held that even receiving a valid gift can be an appropriation if the other elements are present, so the dishonesty element does much of the work in separating the guilty from the innocent. Robbery builds directly on theft: in R v Hale the defendants' appropriation was treated as continuing while they tied up the householder, so force used during the wider course of stealing satisfied section 8 even though the initial taking was complete. Burglary then turns on trespass and timing: in R v Smith and Jones sons who entered their father's house to steal exceeded the permission they had, becoming trespassers, which made their entry with intent to steal a section 9(1)(a) burglary.

Try this

Q1. Name the five elements of theft. [5 marks]

• Cue. Appropriation, property, belonging to another, dishonesty, and intention to permanently deprive.

Q2. What additional element turns theft into robbery? [2 marks]

• Cue. The use or threat of force on any person, immediately before or at the time of stealing, in order to steal.

Q3. Advise whether the defendant is liable for theft and/or robbery on the facts. [20 marks]

• What the marker wants. The five elements of theft applied with cases, then robbery (force, timing, in order to steal), and a conclusion on each offence.