Law Weblog

Briggs, R v (2003) CA

Wednesday 17 December 2003 at 11:31 pm | In News | Post Comment

[Theft – appropriation does not include obtaining by deception]
D deceived elderly relatives into making a payment to her during their house move, whereby she (and her father) obtained title to the new property.

Held: D did not appropriate an item if by fraud she induced the owner to part with that item. R v Naviede [1997] was relied on.

If this were not the case there would be little need for many of the deception offences as many acts of deceptive conduct would be covered by theft, and the word “appropriation” connoted a physical act rather than a more remote action triggering the payment which gave rise to the charge.

Not guilty