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Police Law 11th Edition

37. Theft and Related Offences, Robbery and Blackmail

Chapter 37

Treating as one's own to dispose of regardless of other's rights p 1082

Another example of the operation of the Theft Act 1968, s 6(1) under this heading is provided in a case where the defendants had taken the victim's car by force and demanded payment for its return. Rejecting appeals against convictions for conspiracy to rob (robbery requires the commission of theft), the Court of Appeal stated that an intention on the part of a taker of property 'to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the other's rights' includes the situation where the defendant makes an offer to sell the other's property back to him, and to make its return subject to a condition or conditions (eg payment of the price demanded) inconsistent with his right to possession of his own property. [R v Raphael [2008] EWCA Crim 1014, [2008] Crim LR 995]