Abstract

‘Burglary’ in its modern guise in England and Wales is an offence defined under section 9 of the Theft Act 1968, which brought together under one umbrella the ancient offence of burglary (which referred only to forced entry into a dwelling by night with intent to commit a felony) with a variety of other offences which had accumulated over time, including house-breaking (which included entry in daylight), breaking into other kinds of building (shop-breaking, factory-breaking and so on) and non-forced entry into all kinds of building with intent to commit any of a number of named crimes. A person is now guilty of burglary under the above-mentioned Act if:

(1) (a) he enters any building or part of a building as a trespasser and with intent to commit any such offence as is mentioned in subsection (2) below; or (b) having entered any building or part of a building as a trespasser he steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or that part of it or inflicts or attempts to inflict on any person therein any grievous bodily harm

(2) The offences referred to in subsection 1(a) above are offences of stealing anything in the building or part of a building in question, of inflicting on any person therein any grievous bodily harm or raping any woman therein, and of doing unlawful damage to the building or anything therein.