According to Section 21 of the Theft Act 1968, it is when an individual(s) makes ‘unwarranted menacing demands’ either explicitly or implicitly in hopes of making a gain or causing a loss to someone else. As the law stands, it is restricted to economic matters. So, when talking about gain and loss, we mean in monetary and proprietary terms.
Cases such as sexual or non-monetary advantages are handled under a different law.
What is ‘unwarranted menacing demands’?
To simply put it, it is when an individual(s) makes demands in a way that will cause an ordinary person to unwillingly succumb to it. Nevertheless, for individuals who are timid and therefore susceptible to meeting the demand, the demander will automatically be treated as acting menacingly if they were aware of such a fact.
Furthermore, it ought to be shown that when the demand was made, the demander had no genuine reasonable grounds to believe that the demand should be made the way it was, and the menacing way of making the demands was improper in the circumstances.
The above point should be treated with caution as it does not act as a license to effectively ‘extort’ an individual.
What should you do if threatened with extortion?
As always, try to stay calm, and do not panic. Rather than trying to solve it yourself, which may lead to you committing an offence, it is advisable to call our switchboard where a case handler will be able to assist you.
How to deal with the police if suspected of extortion?
In such situations, you have a right to inform someone of your arrest. More importantly, you have a right to access free independent legal services when you request them. If this is ever in doubt, inform the police officer of Section 58(1) of the Police and Crime Evidence Act 1984. Moreover, if you are eventually interviewed in the absence of legal services, you should remember that you neither have to answer the question posed to you nor can you be compelled to do so. You can choose to stay silent.
It is worth noting now that once you request legal advice, you cannot be interviewed until you have access to the advice. Also, if you are already being interviewed after indicating that you did not require legal advice, once you request for it, even during the interview, the police will have to postpone the interview until you have been given the advice.
Punishment for the offence:
This offence is extremely serious and could carry a potential 14-year jail sentence, so be careful when threatened with or by it.