D tried (unsuccessfully) to disrupt a dog-race so that the race would be called off and he could recover his bet that, had the race continued, he would have lost. He appealed against his conviction under s.1 Criminal Attempts Act on the grounds that his actions were insufficiently “proximate” to the actual actus reus of theft to be considered an attempted crime.CA say that in jumping onto the track D was doing an act “merely preparatory” to theft of the stake he would have lost and D had not moved into the process of actually committing the theft (going to the bookies and asking for his money back). Therefore CA quashed his conviction.
