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Handling stolen goods

s.22Theft Act 1968

Dishonestly receiving stolen goods, or dishonestly helping to keep, move, dispose of or sell them for another person, knowing or believing them to be stolen.

Handling stolen goods · Theft Act 1968, s.22Card 11 / 85

Points to prove

Otherwise than in the course of the stealing
Knowing or believing them to be stolen goods
Dishonestly
Received the goods, or undertook or assisted in their retention, removal, disposal or realisation by or for the benefit of another person, or arranged to do so

Key definitions

Stolen goods – s.24: goods stolen in England and Wales or elsewhere (if it was an offence there), and goods representing them as proceeds in the hands of the thief or a handler. Goods obtained by blackmail or fraud count as stolen (s.24(4)). Goods stop being stolen once restored to the owner or other lawful possession or custody (s.24(3)).
Goods – s.34(2)(b): money and every other description of property except land, including things severed from the land by stealing.
Knowing or believing – belief means the defendant cannot say for certain the goods are stolen, but there can be no other reasonable conclusion in the circumstances. Mere suspicion is not enough (R v Hall 1985).
Dishonestly – not defined in the Act for this offence (s.2 applies to theft only). The test is Ivey v Genting (2017), applied in R v Barton and Booth (2020): the defendant’s actual knowledge or belief, then whether the conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.
Realisation – selling or otherwise turning the goods into money.

Good to know

Otherwise than in the course of the stealing: the thief does not become a handler by dealing with the goods during the theft itself.
“By or for the benefit of another person” applies to retention, removal, disposal and realisation, not to receiving. Selling the goods on is not a realisation “for the benefit of” the buyer, so a person who bought them innocently and later sells them on is not handling (R v Bloxham 1983).
If the goods were not in fact stolen (for example, already recovered by police), the full offence cannot be committed, but an attempt may be.
Handling carries a higher maximum (14 years) than theft (7 years).

Legislation: Theft Act 1968, s.22 (opens legislation.gov.uk in a new tab)
Mode of trial: Either way
Maximum penalty: 14 years' imprisonment (on indictment)