How is the offence of robbery defined?

RobberyOffence of Robbery was defined under s8 Theft Act 1968AR – ‘stealing, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts, or seeks to put, any person in fear of there and then subjected to force’Completed thefto Robinson – all elements of theft must be present for there to have been a robberyo Corcoran v Anderton – if defendant use/threatened to use force and THEN all aspects of theft are completed, that second it becomes a theft* Use of/threat to use forceo Dawson and James – up to the jury to decide whether what the defendant used/threatened amount to “force”* A mere nudge was held to be “force” * Clouden – confirmed the legal point aboveo B & R v DPP – no need for the victim to have been frightened, as long as the defendant sought to do so * Threat can also be implied * Force only has to be threatened; no need for it to be appliedo Force can be against “any person”, as long as it was done with the aim to steal* Immediately before or at the time (of the theft)o How immediate is “immediate”? * No case law, or definition, thus common sense is all that is requiredo The force has to have been used before or at the time of the theft; thus, if force is used once the theft has been committed, it is not robbery * Hale – force occurred as the theft was “ongoing”; guilty * Lockley – force occurred as the theft was “ongoing”; guilty* Force must have been used to complete the thefto If there is no correlation between the force/threat of the force and the theft that occurred, then they are two separate offencesMR – ‘the mens rea of theft and intention to use/threaten to use force in order to steal’