The appellants were said to have made false mortgage applications. They appealed convictions for dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
Held: A chose in action created by an electronic bank transfer was not property which was capable of being ‘obtained’ by deception under the Theft Act. The transfer of funds was carried out by the debiting of one account and the crediting of another, and was merely the extinction and creation of choses in action. The definition of pecuniary advantage in s.16(1) of the 1968 Act does not extend to loans secured by way of mortgage.
Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Lord Chancellor, Lord Goff of Chieveley, Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle, Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Hoffmann
Gazette 29-Aug-1996, Times 11-Jul-1996, [1996] 3 WLR 255, [1996] 3 All ER 481, [1996] AC 815, HL/PO/JU/18/256, [1996] 2 Cr App R 524
Bailii
Theft Act 1968 15(1) 16(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Regina v Preddy; Regina v Slade; Regina v Dhillon (Conjoined Appeals) CACD 1995
The electronic transfer of funds moves no identifiable property capable of being the subject of a charge of obtaining property by deception. . .
Cited – Attorney-General of Hong Kong v Nai-Keung PC 1987
Textile export quotas (a permission to export textiles) which were surplus to the exporter’s requirements, which could be bought and sold under the apprpriate Hong Kong legislation, may be ‘property’ for the purposes of the law of theft. . .
Cited – Regina v Danger 1857
The defendant was charged with obtaining a valuable security by false pretences, on the basis that he had presented a bill to the prosecutor who accepted it and returned it to the defendant, his acceptance having been induced by false pretences on . .
Wrongly decided – Regina v Duru CACD 1974
The defendants were accused of involvement in mortgage frauds perpetrated on a local authority. The advances were made by cheque, and the defendants were charged with obtaining the cheques by deception. The principal question for consideration was . .
Wrongly decided – Regina v Mitchell CACD 1993
. .
Cited – Regina v Halai CACD 15-Jul-1982
The defendant went to his solicitor, who was also an agent of a building society, to raise a mortgage to purchase a house. The defendant gave false details in the form which was intended to induce the building society to make an advance. He signed . .
Cited – Regina v Teong Sun Chuah CACD 1991
. .
Cited – Target Holdings Ltd v Redferns (A Firm) and Another HL 21-Jul-1995
The defendant solicitors had acted for a purchaser, Crowngate, which had agreed to buy a property from a company called Mirage for andpound;775,000. Crowngate had arranged however that the property would first be passed through a chain of two . .
Cited by:
Followed – Regina v Cooke CACD 24-Jan-1997
The defendant had been convicted of a mortgage fraud, but sought leave to appeal out of time in the light of Preddy.
Held: ‘In the light of Graham and upon our reading of section 1 of the 1978 Act we consider that the wording of subsection (2) . .
Cited – Regina v Klineberg; Regina v Marsden CACD 19-Nov-1998
When money had been received on a trust to send to a stakeholder but was misappropriated, the money still belonged to the payer, and a prosecution for theft was correct. This was different from cases where money was spent for the purposes stated. . .
Applied – Regina v Adebayo CACD 7-Jul-1997
The defendant had been employed in the probate registry, and sought by deception to conspire with others to use the information he obtained to obtain money from estates. He appealed, saying that the court should not have convicted him of obtaining . .
Cited – Regina v Hedworth CACD 20-Sep-1996
The court allowed amendment of the indictment to reflect the law as demonstrated in Preddy, and at a preparatory hearing application was made to quash the amended indictment on the basis that the charges were not supported by evidence in the . .
Applied – Regina v Naviede CACD 21-Mar-1997
The defendant appealed from his conviction for dishonesty. He said that he should have allowed hi to represent himself as to certain aspect of his case, but to have legal representation for others.
Held: The judge was right to reject such a . .
Cited – Regina v Briggs (Joan) CACD 12-Dec-2003
The defendant appealed her conviction for theft. She had involved herself in the sale of an elderly relatives house and arranged for a new house to be bought in her and another name.
Held: Hilton was to be distinguished. There, the defendant . .
Cited – Regina v Hilton CACD 7-Mar-1997
The defendant on a theft charge was a signatory on an account and caused money to be transferred to other accounts.
Held: The instructions to the bank had caused the transfers, and the defendant had therefore misappropriated the credit balance . .
Cited – Smith (Wallace Duncan), Regina v (No 4) CACD 17-Mar-2004
The defendant appealed convictions for fraudulent trading and obtaining property by deception, saying that the English court could not prosecute an offence committed principally in the US.
Held: Provided some substantial element (here the . .
Applied – Regina v Dawson, Dawson CACD 14-Jul-1997
The defendants were convicted of a mortgage fraud. They appealed saying they had not been dishonest. They had signed forms, but they then had been completed by others, and that it had been those further replies which were dishonest. The original . .
Cited – Assets Recovery Agency v Olupitan and Another QBD 8-Feb-2007
The claimant was responsible for recovering money under the 2002 Act, and alleged that the first defendant had been engaged in a mortgage fraud.
Held: To succeed in such a claim for recovery the Claimant must prove, ‘on a balance of . .
Cited – White v Regina CACD 15-Apr-2014
The defendant sought an extension of time for leave to appeal against his conviction for fraud. After his conviction there had been academic debate as to its basis, and the present application was not opposed. He had originally been charged under . .
Cited – Regina v Kansal (2) HL 29-Nov-2001
The prosecutor had lead and relied at trial on evidence obtained by compulsory questioning under the 1986 Act.
Held: In doing so the prosecutor was acting to give effect to section 433.
The decision in Lambert to disallow retrospective . .
Cited – Regina v Kansal, on a Reference From the Criminal Cases Review Commission (2) CACD 24-May-2001
Once a case had been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the court had to make a declaration, even if the case was very old. The effect of the 1998 Act on statute law was not retrospective, but where it affected . .
Cited – Marshall, Regina v CACD 6-Mar-1998
Sale of Unexpired Portion of Ticket can be a Theft
The defendants had been using London Underground tickets, but selling on the unused balance after their journey. On a ruling at trial, they pleaded guilty to theft, but now appealed.
Held: The appeals failed. Although the tickets had passed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.87567