Robbery & burglary

CRL.06 — Robbery & Burglary

Both are aggravated property offences under the Theft Act 1968. Robbery is theft-plus-force; burglary is trespassory entry-plus-intent. Get the building blocks right and these become predictable.

Robbery (s.8) — max life

A person is guilty if they steal, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, they use force on any person or put or seek to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force.

Five elements:

• A complete theft (all five elements of s.1 — appropriation, property, belonging to another, dishonesty, intention to permanently deprive). No theft = no robbery (R v Robinson — D believed he had a legal right to the money under s.2(1)(a), so not dishonest, so not theft, so not robbery).
• Force or fear of force on any person (need not be the owner).
• Force in order to steal — force used for another purpose (e.g. then deciding to steal) is not robbery.
• Timing: "immediately before or at the time of" stealing. Appropriation is a continuing act (R v Hale; R v Lockley — force used while making off still "at the time of" theft).
• Minimal force suffices — R v Dawson and James (nudging to unbalance); wrenching a bag from a hand can be enough (Corcoran v Anderton), though force applied only to property without affecting the person is borderline (R v Clouden treats it as capable of being robbery — jury question).

Burglary (s.9)

Two forms:

• s.9(1)(a): enters a building/part as a trespasser with intent (at the moment of entry) to steal, inflict GBH, or do criminal damage. The "ulterior offence" need not be committed.
• s.9(1)(b): having entered as a trespasser, steals/attempts to steal or inflicts/attempts to inflict GBH. Intent is judged on what D does after entry (no intent needed on entry).

Key points:

• Entry must be effective (R v Brown — partly through a window sufficed; Ryan — even partial/ineffective entry can count, very low threshold).
• Trespasser = entry without consent or in excess of permission (R v Jones and Smith — son entered father's house exceeding permission). Mens rea: D must know of, or be reckless as to, facts making entry trespassory.
• Building or part of a building — includes inhabited vehicles/vessels (s.9(4)); a shopper moving behind a counter enters a "part" as a trespasser (R v Walkington).
• Aggravated burglary (s.10) — burglary with a Weapon of offence, Imitation firearm, Firearm or Explosive at the time of the burglary (mnemonic WIFE). Max life. For s.9(1)(b), D must have the article at the point of the theft/GBH (R v O'Leary).

Common traps

• No completed theft → no robbery — always test the full s.1 first.
• s.9(1)(a) ulterior intent is only steal/GBH/criminal damage; rape was removed from the list (since 2004). Note s.9(1)(b) covers GBH/theft only — not criminal damage.
• s.9(1)(a) needs intent at entry; s.9(1)(b) does not.
• Conditional intent suffices for s.9(1)(a) (intending to steal "anything worth taking").
• Don't confuse robbery's force with burglary — burglary needs no force, just trespass.