Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
| Date | 01 July 1963 |
| Published date | 01 July 1963 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836302700301 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Journal
of
Criminal Law
VOL.
XXVII. No. 3 JULy-SEPTEMBER,
1963
Courts
of Summary Jurisdiction
A CHARGE OF LARCENY
ACASE of receiving stolen property contrary to section 33
of the Larceny Act, 1916, heard at Marlborough Street
Magistrates Court recently raised interesting questions as to
whether the property had in fact been stolen or whether it had
been obtained by means of false pretences.
The
original form of the charge was receiving stolen
property,
but
on the hearing the police officer in charge of
the case applied to have the charge amended to one of re-
ceiving property obtained as a result of a misdemeanour
(i.e. by means of false pretences).
The
Police were not at
this stage legally represented, and after very little of the evi-
dence had been heard (the defendant having consented to
summary trial and pleaded not guilty) it became apparent that
they should have been. Application was therefore made for
remand for that purpose and the learned Magistrate (E. G.
Robey, Esq.), granted the application.
On the remand hearing (before
J.
Aubrey-Fletcher, Esq.)
application was made by Counsel for the prosecution that the
charge be amended back to its original form, and in spite of
adverse comment from defending counsel, the application
was allowed.
Evidence was then given by B, the manager of an off-
licence in King's Road, Chelsea, that on the day in question
he had received a telephone message from a man.
The
de-
fendant was a woman. As a result of this message he had
prepared an order of one dozen bottles of Haig Whisky in one
carton, and six bottles of Booth's Gin and six bottles of
Gordon's Gin in a second carton. Some time later, a taxi
driver had arrived and collected the liquor, givingthe manager
a receipt for it on his copy of the invoice. He identified the
two cartons, containing together the same amount of liquor
161
CL-I
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