| A person is guilty of robbery if: | ||
He Steals | A theft is required for a robbery to occur; therefore, if there is no theft, there can be no robbery. The word ‘steal’ in the offence relates to the offence under s. 1 of the Theft Act 1968 and, therefore, if any element of theft cannot be proved, the offence of robbery will not be made out. | |
| EXAMPLE | In R v Robinson [1977] Crim LR 173, D, who was owed £7 by P’s wife, approached P, brandishing a knife. A fight followed, during which P dropped a £5 note. D picked it up and demanded the remaining £2 owed to him. Allowing D’s appeal against a conviction for robbery, the Court of Appeal held that the prosecution had to prove that D was guilty of theft, and that he would not be (under the Theft Act 1968, s. 2(1)(a)) if he believed that he had a right in law to deprive P of the money, even though he knew that he was not entitled to use the knife to get it, i.e. there was no dishonesty | |
| And immediately before or at the time of doing so | · Section 8(1) requires that the force must be used or the threat made ‘immediately before or at the time’ of the theft. · There is no guidance as to what ‘immediately before’ means.· If the force used or threatened is after the offence of theft has taken place, there will be no robbery; however, theft can be a continuing offence. | |
And in order to do so | · The use or threat of force must be ‘in order’ to carry out the theft. Force used in any other context means the offence is not committed. · The question to ask in such circumstances is ‘Why has the force been used and/or threatened?’ If the answer is anything other than ‘to enable the defendant to commit theft’, then there is no offence of robbery. | |
| He uses force on any person or | · The force used to accomplish a robbery need not be used against the owner or possessor of the property. For example, a gang of armed criminals use force against a security guard in order to overpower him and steal cash from the bank he is standing outside and guarding. | |
| Puts or seeks to put any person in fear | · Where only the threat of force is involved, the intention must be to put a person in fear for him/herself; an intention to put someone in fear for another is not enough | |
Of being then and there subjected to force | · A small amount of force used in order to accomplish a theft may change that theft into a robbery. · The accidental use of force such as when a pickpocket, in the process of stealing a wallet from his victim on a train, is pushed into his victim by the train jolting on the railway line would not be a robbery – R v Dawson (1977) 64 Cr App R 170 | |
A person is guilty of robbery if:
He Steals
- The word ‘steal’ in the offence relates to the offence under s. 1 of the Theft Act 1968 and, therefore, if any element of theft cannot be proved, the offence of robbery will not be made out.
- A theft is required for a robbery to occur; therefore, if there is no theft, there can be no robbery.
Example
In R v Robinson [1977] Crim LR 173, D, who was owed £7 by P’s wife, approached P, brandishing a knife. A fight followed, during which P dropped a £5 note. D picked it up and demanded the remaining £2 owed to him. Allowing D’s appeal against a conviction for robbery, the Court of Appeal held that the prosecution had to prove that D was guilty of theft, and that he would not be (under the Theft Act 1968, s. 2(1)(a)) if he believed that he had a right in law to deprive P of the money, even though he knew that he was not entitled to use the knife to get it, i.e. there was no dishonesty