Have done this before @ DXB. Did not have any issues asking for bags to be tagged only to to DXB from the UK (the ticket was the return part of a ticket DEL-DXB-LGW-DXB-DEL).

The 'stopover' @ DXB was 15 or 16 hours long which might have helped in my case.

The reason that I had to do so was because of ticketing restrictions I couldn't extend my ticket (wanted to stay in Dubai for longer than originally planned.). I flew to India on another airline.