Criminal Law

The defendants took the victim’s car by force and demanded payment for its return.

HELD The express language of s 6(1) of the Theft Act 1968 specifies that the subjective element necessary to establish the mens rea for theft includes an intention on the part of the taker “to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the other’s rights”.

This includes the situation where the defendant makes an offer to sell the loser’s own property back to him, and to make its return subject to a condition or conditions inconsistent with his right to possession of his own property.