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Meaning of Domestic Burglary: When is an Outbuilding a Dwelling

Document Cited authorities 3 Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 February 2008
DOI10.1350/jcla.2008.72.1.474
Published date01 February 2008
Subject MatterComment
JCL 72(1) dockie..Kalu - Comment .. Page36 COMMENT
Meaning of Domestic Burglary: When Is an
Outbuilding a Dwelling
Annette Kalu*
Informally known as ‘the 3 strikes and you’re out’ provision, s. 111 of
the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 creates a pre-
sumption that the offender who commits his third domestic burglary
should be sentenced to at least a three-year minimum term of imprison-
ment unless the particular circumstances outlined under s. 111(2) apply.
For obvious reasons therefore, the phrase ‘domestic burglary’ is im-
portant. However, it is submitted that neither statute nor case law offers
clear guidance on the meaning of domestic burglary and in particular,
when—if at all—a garage or shed burglary should constitute ‘domestic
burglary’. This comment, quite simply, seeks to consider whether the
current law provides (and whether it should provide) clear guidance on
when a burglary of an outbuilding becomes a domestic burglary for the
purposes of the law relating to s. 111 of the 2000 Act.
Section 111(5) provides that a ‘domestic burglary’ means a burglary
committed in respect of a building or part of a building which is a
dwelling; clearly then, the issue is what constitutes ‘a dwelling’. It is
submitted that clear legal guidance on that point will shed light on
whether the burglary of any structure that is a dwelling would be a
domestic burglary. First then, we must consider how the 2000 Act
defines, a ‘dwelling’.
Regrettably, the term ‘dwelling’ is not defined in the 2000 Act.
Therefore, it can only be assumed that Parliament’s intention was to
ascribe to that word its common everyday meaning of a house or place
of residence. If the foregoing is correct, it is submitted that burglaries
of outbuildings like garages and sheds would rarely ever constitute
domestic burglaries because garages or sheds are not usually places of
residence. However, it is clear from decisions of the courts that there
are instances in which garage burglaries have been held to constitute
domestic...

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