Obtaining property by deception

Obtaining property by deception was formerly a statutory offence in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

This offence was created by section 15 of the Theft Act 1968. Sections 15(1) and (2) of that Act read:

This offence replaced the offence of obtaining by false pretences, contrary to section 32(1) of the Larceny Act 1916.

Section 15 was repealed on 15 January 2007 by Schedule 3 to the Fraud Act 2006

Liability for offences by corporations

Section 18 of the Theft Act 1968 applied in relation to section 15.

Going equipped for cheat

In section 25 of the Theft Act 1968, the word "cheat" meant an offence under section 15.

The deception must be the operative cause of the obtaining of property, and this is a question of fact for the jury to decide, requiring proof that the victim would not have acted in the same way had they known the truth. In R v Laverty although the defendant put new number plates and a new chassis number on a car, the victim bought the car because he thought Laverty was the owner. There was no proof that the false identification plates were the cause of the obtaining. This would suggest that if the victim admits not caring whether the defendant's representation was true or false, an acquittal must follow. But, in Metropolitan Police Commissioner v Charles, a causal link was implied even though the victim admitted not considering the question of whether the bank would or would not honour the cheque. Similarly, in R v Talbott (1995) CLR 396 the defendant gave false details and obtained housing benefit. She was actually entitled to the benefit, but causation was established by the fact that the benefit officer would not have paid her if she had known the defendant was lying. This "constructive" deception is necessitated because many shop assistants and officials may be personally indifferent as to whether the defendant is honest or not. To clarify this aspect of the law, the Law Commission recommend the introduction of a specific offence to cover the use of cheque guarantee and payment cards to remove the need for any implied representation to affect the mind of the particular person accepting the use of the card. This would identify the bank as the true victim.

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