You have been split into groups of four (4) persons with each of you taking a specific role. You will be one of the following:

• Co-counsel for the prosecution arguing issues 1 and 2. (SeeISSUES below)
• Co-counsel for the prosecution arguing issues 3 and 4. (See ISSUES below)
• Co-counsel for the defence arguing issues 1 and 2.(See ISSUES below)
• Co-counsel for the defence arguing issues 3 and 4. (See ISSUES below)

You will be providing a closing statement to the court as per your allocated role. You will each have 5 minutes (and the timing WILL be enforced strictly), to make a submission on which you will be graded in conjunction with any case note(s) provided.

FACTS:

Simon Towel and his partner Nicole Sherwood lived in Factor House, ITVland. Adjoining their house was a camp site with numerous caravans parked there. One, which was of considerable size, was owned by Louis Wash who used it as a holiday home. Louis asked Simon and Nicole to keep an eye on his caravan whilst he was away.

Unbeknown to Louis and whilst he was away, Simon used the caravan as a place to hold auditions for his upcoming TV program “Z Factor”. Simon would wait until Louis had left the camp site, then use the key that had been given to him to enter the caravan with singing hopefuls to undertake the auditions. He didn’t use his own house as the noise sometimes broke the windows. The caravan had plastic rather than glass windows.

When Louis Wash came for his monthly break in November, he brought his new wife, Sharon Osgood with him for the first time. Sharon enjoyed time in the caravan so much she agreed with Louis that she would live there and use it as their home.

This concerned and worried Simon an awful lot as the loss of a place to undertake his auditions would be extremely detrimental to his show and he started thinking of a plan to get rid of her. It turned out Sharon was extremely scared of ghosts, so Simon started telling Sharon of the ghostly goings on in the caravan park. To make it seem real, Simon asked Nicole to dress with a sheet on her head to try to scare Sharon.

One night, Nicole used the key to open the door of the caravan and went in.She made ghostly noises which scared Sharon an awful lot. Sharon ran and locked herself in the toilet at which point Nicole saw £250 on a table which she picked up and put in her pocket. She subsequently realised it was monopoly money so she took it out of her pocket and put it back on the table. Nicole then left the caravan and ran away.

Nicole was subsequently arrested and charged with burglary.

ISSUES:

The prosecution contends:

1. A caravan is a building for the purposes of s.9 Theft Act 1968
2. Despite having a key to the caravan Nicole was a trespasser for the purposes of s.9 Theft Act 1968
3. Intending to ‘frighten’ someone is an offence under s9(2) Theft Act 1968
4. The act of taking the £250 was sufficient as an intentional act of theft for the purposes of s9 Theft Act 1968.

The defence contends:

1. A caravan is not building for the purposes of s.9 Theft Act 1968 as it is not a permanent structure
2. Nicole was not a trespasser for the purposes of s.9 Theft Act 1968 as she had a key to the caravan
3. Intending to ‘frighten’ someone is not an offence under s9(2) Theft Act 1968
4. As Nicole did not take the £250 of monopoly money, there could be no theft under s9 Theft Act 1968.

YOUR PLAN:

In order to succeed in this moot you must plan your closing arguments in an effective and concise manner. You will need to provide some authority to your arguments and you must do this via the submission of relevant casenotes. The following is an example of how to structure your submission:

• Provide the court with the casenotes to which you will be referring
• Start your submission outlining:
  • “Your honour, it is the case of the defence/prosecution that the defendant did/did not commit burglary as per s9 of the Theft Act 1968”
  • “The defence/prosecution contends that (state your first point/issue)”
  • State the statutory law governing the area
  • State the case law and refer the judge to the casenote
  • Apply the law to the facts
  • “The defence/prosecution contends that (state your second point/issue)”
  • State the statutory law governing the area
  • State the case law and refer the judge to the casenote
  • Apply the law to the facts
  • End with:
    • “Your Honour, my learned friend will continue the submission for the prosecution/defence”, or,
    • “Your Honour my learned friend for the defence will  now provide their submission”, or,
    • “Your Honour that concludes the submission for the defence/prosecution”

The wearing of robes is not required.