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Dishonesty provides the mens rea for multiple offences under statute and the common law. It is, however, not fully defined by statute. The exception is the Theft Act 1968 (TA 1968), which goes some way towards defining dishonesty but only insofar as certain offences within the 1968 Act are concerned (see: Theft offences—overview).

Dishonesty is ultimately a term that should be given its plain English meaning. It will be for the jury to decide whether a defendant has been dishonest, with the assistance of judicial directions drawn from the test for dishonesty in Ivey.

The need to prove dishonesty applies to many, but not all, offences falling under the broad categories of ‘financial’, ‘business’, or ‘corporate’ crime. For example, proof of dishonesty is required for the core offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and false accounting under TA 1968, s 17. It is required for certain offences under the Insolvency Act 1986, the Taxes Management Act 1970, the Companies Act 2006, and the Financial Services Act 2012. Dishonesty is also a required part