Burglary and Aggravated Burglary Flashcards
what type of offence is burglary?
either way- in crown court maximum sentence is 10 years imprisonment for commercial premises and 14 years for burglary of domestic premises (this reflects public concern)
what does s9 of the TA define burglary as? a person is guilty of burglary if…
he enters any building/part of building as trespasser and with intent to commit any such offence mentioned below
OR
having entered any building/part of building as a trespasser he steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or that part of it or inflicts/attempts to inflict on any person therein any grievous bodily harm
offences- any offences of stealing anything in building or part of building, or inflicting on any person therein any grievous bodily harm therein, and of doing unlawful damage to the building or anything therein
what do both burglaries require?
enter a building as a trespasser and know or be reckless that they are a trespasser
what must be present for a s9(1) (a) offence?
D must intend theft, infliction of GBH or criminal damage
what must be present for a s9(1) (b) offence?
D must commit or attempt theft/GBH
what is the definition of ‘entry’?
R v Collins- entering the building with any part of his anatomy before being invited in- must have made an ‘effective and substantial entry’ and q for jury
R v Brown- must be an ‘effective’ entry but this is a q for jury
R v Ryan- entry of some part of the Ds body into the premises could be an effective entry and irrelevant if they aren’t in position to commit a crime- not always but COULD amount to an entry
summary: can be sufficient for any part of Ds body to count as entry and it is no defence that they weren’t in a position to commit a crime at the time
what if the D inserts an instrument into the property but not him himself?
e.g. a small child? - no authority on this but could be seen as using an instrument
e.g. hook/magnet through letterbox but prior to TA thus was considered an extension of the Ds body but only if it was to commit a theft, not to et the D into the property e.g. to force open a door
what is a ‘building’?
must have some degree of permanence about it e.g. house, shop, shed, doesn’t matter if it is occupied/inhabited
s9(4) of TA says includes inhabited vehicles/vessels e.g. houseboat whether or not the person living there is there at the time or not
what is a ‘part of a building’?
s9(1) of TA- e.g. entering a building lawfully but moves to another part with they don’t have the authority to go- R v Walkington and the D knows or is reckless to the fact that they may not have permission to be in the area
what is a ‘trespasser’?
essential for conviction irrelevant of what they did inside the property- requires proof that the D entered without consent/permission and they knew or were reckless as to this
old law prior to TA says that permission to enter obtained by fraud is not a true permission- R v Boyle
what about entering lawfully but with unlawful purposes?
R v Jones and Smith- trespasser if they had permission to enter for lawful purposes but entered for an unlawful purpose and they knew or were reckless that they were exceeding the terms of the permission given
what is the knowledge or recklessness as to trespass?
prosecution must show that the D had a particular state of mind in relation to the fact that they were trespassing (AR and MR must be proved)
MR0 D must know that they were entering as a trespasser or be reckless as to whether they were a trespasser- recklessness would require D to foresee the risk that they do not have permission to enter and go on without justification to take that risk- if they trespass by accident they wont be convicted of burglary
when must the D have the awareness that they are trespassing?
R v Collins- MR was at the time of entry into the building- offence complete at this point as long as they knew they were trespassing/acting recklessly
what is conditional intent?
when the Ds intent is conditional on certain circumstances existing e.g. i will steal the cash fi the safe is open- but this is no defence
what is aggravated burglary?
criminal who are armed then they commit an offence or burglary
s10(1) of TA- burglary when the person has a firearm, imitation firearm, any weapon of offence or any explosive
indictable only offence- maximum sentence life imprisonment
