Corcoran v Anderton (1980) 71 Cr App R 104 Queen's Bench Divisional Court


The two defendants knocked a woman to the ground and grabbed her handbag. She screamed and held on to the bag. They let go of the bag and ran off empty handed. They were convicted of robbery and appealed contending that at no time did they have sole control of the bag.

Held:

Convictions upheld. An appropriation had taken place with the relevant dishonest intent to permanently deprive. It was irrelevant that they left empty handed or that they never gained full control of the bag since touching property is sufficient to amount to an appropriation.

Back to lecture outline on The Law of Robbery in Criminal Law