Theft is the dishonest appropriation of goods, that belong to somebody else, where you intend to permanently keep them from the lawful owner.
The most obvious example is shoplifting. Here, somebody takes something from a shelf and leaves the shop without paying. The taking it from the shop is the appropriation. The item belongs to the shop’s owner. Leaving with the item, and without paying for it, shows an intention to permanently deprive the owner of their property.
A less obvious example is where somebody buys a car on finance. The finance agreement says that the vehicle remains the property of the finance company until the loan is paid off, but the payments towards the loan stop and the vehicle is not handed over to the finance company. In that situation, although the person came into possession of the car lawfully, once they stopped paying for the finance and continued to treat it as their own property the law says they have dishonestly appropriated the car for the purposes of the Theft Act 1968.
All this means that there are lots of ways to attack the prosecution case and defending against a theft allegation. We might, for example, be arguing that your actions were not dishonest or that the property did not belong to somebody else, ie that it is actually yours since an item can have more than one owner. A good example of this is where John owns a car that is part paid for by Alice. If accused of stealing the car, Alice might well be able to argue that she is effectively an owner of it since she has paid towards it. We might also look to question whether the prosecution can prove that you intended to permanently deprive the owner of their property.
The maximum sentence for theft is seven years imprisonment. In reality, sentences are typically far lower than that and are capped at six months imprisonment for low-value shoplifting.
When passing sentence, the court will look at a person’s role in the offence and impact the offence had. Thus, a person who organises a theft committed by a group will be treated more harshly than somebody who steals opportunistically. When we look at the impact an offence has, stealing a relatively inexpensive jacket from a high street chain is likely to be treated less harshly than stealing an expensive watch from an individual.
At Hartley’s Solicitors, we can help you defend yourself against accusations of theft and mitigate any sentence that is imposed upon you. Call our team of experienced criminal defence solicitors today on 020 8242 4440.