Obtaining a money transfer by deception

article 3(1) of The Theft (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997

• Status not determined
• Requires proof of a state of mind
• Indictable only
• Miscellaneous

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 After section

15 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 there shall be inserted the following sections— Obtaining

a money transfer by deception. 15A

1 A person is guilty of an offence if by any deception he dishonestly obtains

a money transfer for himself or another.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds

a person

Conduct

breaching the provision

Fault element

Requires proof of a state of mind

Burden of proof

No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (dishonestly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: dishonestly.

What would breach article 3(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

1. On these words an offence is committed where a person dishonestly obtains a money transfer for himself or another.
2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Theft (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Penalty

Mode of trial

Indictable only — tried in the Crown Court

Maximum fine

Not determined

Maximum prison (summary)

Not determined

Maximum prison (on indictment)

10 years

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

• Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.

• Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017

  The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.

• General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019

  The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.

• Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales

  How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status

Status not determined

Made

12 February 1997

In force from

23 March 1997

Extent

Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order is made only for purposes corresponding to the purposes of the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996. This Order amends the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 by inserting two new offences of dishonestly obtaining a money transfer by deception, and of dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit. It also amends the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 to enable certain loans to be treated as services that can be obtained by deception.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

• Obtaining a money transfer by deceptionarticle 15A(1)
• Dishonestly retaining a wrongful creditarticle 23A(1)
• Dishonestly retaining a wrongful creditarticle 4(1)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis

the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”

Confidence

0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

• This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
• The Theft (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1997