ALL info on Haughton v Smith, [1975]
General Things
· Case was heard by House of Lords
· Judges: Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone LC, Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Viscount Dilhorne and Lord Salmon
· Statutes: Theft Act 1968 22(1) 24(3)
· Crime was the attempt of handling stolen goods.
· Whether defendant committing offence—Theft Act 1968 (c. 60), ss. 22 (1), 24 (3
· The respondent was arrested and, on indictment, he was charged and convicted of attempting to handle stolen goods albeit the Crown conceded that at the E time of the alleged offence the goods, being in the lawful custody of the police, ceased to be stolen goods by v
Facts (Things that only affect result of issue, which without wouldn’t cause the result of the case)
· Police officers stopped a large van on a motorway and found it contained stolen goods - 890 cartons of corned beef, the property of Arbuckle Smith & Co. Ltd, whereupon they took the driver and another man in the van to a police station. The D police then decided to allow the men to continue their journey along the motorway to a service area but with two police officers in the van and police officers following. At the service area there were a number of people including the respondent, who took a leading part in arranging for the future disposal of the goods.
What happened
· On September 18, 1971, there was a burglary at a warehouse in Liverpool, and a very large quantify of corned beef in cartons was stolen. Ten days later on September 28 two police officers on duty at night saw a large van proceeding down a main road near Sutton Coldfield, and their attention was directed to it because it was obviously overloaded, or had a load which had shifted, in other words it was all down on one side. They stopped the vehicle, the driver was a man called Dixon; he had a man named Nicholson with him. The van was loaded with cartons of corned beef. The van and the two men in it were taken by the police officers to a Sutton Coldfield police station. There was a brief conference between the police officers and members of the regional crime squad. The upshot of it was that it was decided to let this van go on its way to London with the police keeping an eye on it with a view to catching some of the other. people who were concerned in the theft and disposal of these goods. So after what was really quite a brief interval, the van set off for London; it had two police officers on board and was trailed by other police officers in a car. They got to the London end of the M1 motorway at about seven o'clock at the Scratchwood Service Area, as it is called, because this was the place where Dixon, the driver of the vehicle, told the police that he was to rendezvous with those who were to take the corned beef on. At the Scratchwood Service Area there were a number of people, including the defendant, who were obviously there to receive this vehicle, and who were responsible for the transfer of the goods to other vehicles and the ultim...
