Fraud

Even these reforms did not cover all the gaps in the law and, in addition, there was confusion due to the overlapping of the offences.

One gap in the law was highlighted in the case of Preddy (1996) 3 All ER 481 where the defendants made false representations in order to obtain a number of mortgage advances from building societies to purchase houses. They intended to repay the mortgages when they sold the houses, as they hoped, at a profi t. The mortgage advances were in the form of money transfers. The House of Lords quashed Ds’ convictions on the basis that no property belonging to another had been obtained. As a result of this decision a further amendment was made to the Theft Act 1968 by the Theft (Amendment) Act 1996. This inserted an extra section (s 15A) into the Theft Act 1968 creating the offence of obtaining a money transfer by deception.