Something that I’ve not heard mentioned yet in all the discussion of the BBC’s fake phone-ins is the question whether criminal offences might have been committed. Looking at the details of the competitions, it’s difficult to tell: the facts are explained quite vaguely, so it’s not clear whether production staff and presenters invited audience members to spend money by phoning in knowing they had no chance of winning a http://www.nflauthenticjersey.com/ prize. The Liz Kershaw competitions are perhaps the clearest case – it looks as though that’s precisely what happened, on more than one occasion.
It seems to me that the process of phoning in to a competition results in a credit, somewhere along the line, to an account held by the BBC or by some charity; a money transfer, in other words, within the meaning of section 15A of the Theft Act 1968. There certainly seem to have been deceptions, those deceptions caused the transfers, and if they were solicited knowing the truth, there seems to have been dishonesty, too. An alternative charge might be maglie calcio poco prezzo conspiracy to defraud.
So I want to know, will Mark Thompson and the BBC Trust be inviting the police to investigate?
HoL makes an excellent point but is it necessary to invoke s15A Theft Act 1968? After Hinks [Bailii link], it appears that the only element that needs to be tested is whether or not the BBC were dishonest. I think rigging ‘phone competition results is massively dishonest. This would matter if the law was applied evenly but it appears that white collars mean clean hands in the eyes of the justice system.
I would be surprised if S15 were relevant any more. The Fraud Act 2006 now applies to all offences committed after 15th Jan 2007, which certainly covers the Comic Relief allegations (perhaps the most serious because of the charitable purpose of the entire programme). Looks like a S2 and a S3 offence to me.
Thanks, both of you. Simon, you’re quite right! Offences after 15th January will indeed be under the new fraud offence.
“Media
The City of London Police is considering whether or not to bring fraud charges against GMTV following a record £2m fine from Ofcom for “widespread and systematic deception” on its premiumrate phonein competitions.
The Daily Telegraph, 27 September 2007” from mondaq.
(Wonder if they could plead autrefois acquit (or am I showing my ignorance?)?).