6 THEFT 2: APPROPRIATION
It’s a steal!
The general public is often unclear about the difference between burglary, aggravated burglary and robbery. In English law, the differences between the three offences have important implications in terms of the sentence a person will receive if convicted.
What is burglary? As lawyers, we need to be very precise about the way crimes are defined. According to section 9 of the Theft Act 1968, burglary is entering a building or part of a building with the intent to steal. You must trespass. In other words, you must have entered without permission. For example, if your neighbour has gone out and left the door unlocked, and you enter the house intending to steal their mobile phone, you are liable to be prosecuted for burglary. However, imagine a person enters a house for a cup of sugar. She finds that no one is there and then takes the item meaning to return it after going to the shops. Aperson who behaves in this way has probably not committed an offence under section 9 of the Act because there was no intention to steal. In the case of the phone, if there was an intention to dishonestly appropriate it, an offence has been committed. On the other hand, taking the phone to make an emergency call might be a successful defence. For example, the accused could say that he went outside to make the call because there was no reception in the house and then absent-mindedly put the phone in his pocket and forgot about it.
Under section 10(1) of the Theft Act, a person is guilty of aggravated burglary if he commits any burglary and at the time has with him any firearm or imitation firearm, any offensive weapon or any explosive. The courts have given a wide interpretation to section 10. In R v Stones [1989] 1 WLR 156 the defendant was arrested shortly after burgling a house. The police found he was carrying a kitchen knife. The defendant alleged that he only carried the knife to protect himself and claimed that he had not intended to use it in the burglary. The Court of Appeal decided that section 10 focused on the point that a person had a weapon of offence in his possession at the time of the burglary. If he was carrying a weapon, he might be tempted to use it to commit the burglary. In the later case of R v Kelly [1996] 1 Cr App R, CACrim the accused broke into a house using a screwdriver. He told the householder to unplug the video and then pushed the
screwdriver into his chest. The Court of Appeal held that under section 10 the screwdriver became a weapon of offence on proof that the accused meant to use it to cause injury.
Under section 8, a person is guilty of robbery if he steals and, immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person, or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force. The key word, of course, is force. The force must be used immediately before or at the time of the stealing. Force used after the theft is complete will not amount to a robbery. Whether force has been used against a person is a matter of fact. In practice, very little force is required in order for the offence to be classified as robbery. In R v Dawson [1976] Crim LR 692; Cr App R 170 the defendants crowded around the victim. One of them then pushed him, causing him to lose his balance. This enabled another of the defendants to take the victim’s wallet easily. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction for robbery.
In order to differentiate between the crimes of burglary, aggravated burglary and robbery, it is necessary to identify the key elements in each offence. In burglary, a person must enter a building as a trespasser with intent to steal. In aggravated burglary, a person must be in possession of any weapon of offence at the time he intends to carry out the burglary. Aperson is guilty of robbery if he steals and uses force on any person or makes any person afraid of being subjected to force. He can do this at the time of the offence or before it. The word steal is interpreted in the same way as the basic definition of theft. In other words, if you steal something, you dishonestly appropriate something belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.
Under the terms of the Theft Act, a person convicted of robbery or aggravated burglary is liable to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The maximum prison term for burglary is fourteen years.
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