ABSTRACT
The first part of the Ghosh test requires the jury to decide whether what the defendant did was dishonest, according to the standards of ordinary people. It might be thought that, if the prosecution proves, as it must for a conviction under s 15, a deliberate or reckless deception, that a finding of dishonesty would be automatic. How can one obtain by deception without being dishonest? However, the wording of the section is clear. Deception and dishonesty are separate requirements and each must be proved. This was held in Greenstein, the ‘stagging’ case already discussed in relation to deception,98 where the judge told that jury that, even if they found deception proved, they must not convict unless they also found that the defendant had been dishonest. That was a matter for them to decide.
