The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal in the case of Barton and Booth v R [2020] EWCA Crim 575 has held that the correct test for dishonesty is that as set out in Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords [2017] UKSC 67. While the direction on dishonesty in Ivey had previously been given by the Supreme Court in observations that were strictly obiter, the five-judge panel in Barton found Lord Hughes’ reasoning in Ivey “compelling”. The ruling of Barton clarifies the position, aligning the criminal test for dishonesty with the test under civil law in Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn v Tan [1995] UKPC 4, and confirms that defendants can no longer rely on the second, subjective limb of the previous two-phase objective and subjective test for dishonesty in Ghosh.

In our full briefing (available here), we provide an overview of how the ruling clarifies the position of what constitutes dishonesty in criminal law and, in particular, what this means for the defendants of financial crimes.