Police in Australia have used blood from a leech to identify a criminal, in what is thought to be a world forensic first.
Eight years ago two men broke into a 71-year-old woman's home in Northern Tasmania. They threatened her and stole around s300.
While the men didn't leave any fingerprints, they did leave other evidence of their presence.
Police found a leech at the crime scene and took a sample of the blood it had consumed for DNA profiling.
In 2008 Peter Cannon was charged over a drug offence and his DNA was found to match the sample. Canon has now admitted aggravated armed robbery.
This is believed to be the first time that the lowly leech has been used in the forensic fight against crime.
nine other strange ways that got people busted
1. In 2006, police in Frome were able to track down a bird thief after the parrot he stole managed to leave them a vital clue.
Tristand Maidment stole Mickey the Macaw from a local pet shop.
Though Maidment said he did not remember it, an obviously irate Mickey bit him during the struggle, leaving a trail of blood that police were able to use to obtain a DNA match.
Mickey's owner was not surprised by his parrot’s crime fighting act, who he described as being "notoriously bad-tempered."
2. Thieves who tried to rob a police station in the North Carolina were brought to book after leaving a trail of cake crumbs behind.
Two men were arrested hours after stealing flag poles, flags and a sign during their attempted break-in.
"They had cake and icing all over them,'' said a police spokesman, adding that the suspects had been drinking and were seen earlier at a birthday party serving birthday cake at a restaurant.
After noticing the damaged door of the police station was smeared with cake and icing, a police officer followed the crumb trail out onto a busy main road where he also found a lid with the same icing.
The cake and icing matched that found on the two suspects when they were later apprehended.
"People saw them at the restaurant, we have a witness that saw (one of them) with our flag after the police office had been damaged,'' the spokesman added.
"They had our stuff, and they had cake all over them.''
3. A drunk driver really put his foot in it after dog poo footprints lead North Carolina police to him.
Tipsy teenager Josue Herrios-Coronilla, drove his black Camaro on the wrong side of the road before crashing into the garden of a dog lover.
Police attending the scene discovered crushed bushes, a damaged fence, a wrecked car — and a fresh shoeprint in a pile of dog muck.
Tracing a whiffy trail down the street, the cops noticed a white van driving toward them. When they asked the passenger to step out, they noticed the smell of alcohol on the man's breath and evidence all over his shoes.
4. A tattoo fan’s fondness for body art helped Baltimore police identify and arrest him earlier this week for armed robbery on a convenience store.
While reviewing surveillance footage of the incident, police noticed that while 26-year-old Lance Edward Shepherd had covered his face with a white T-shirt, this had left his tattooed arms exposed.
Detectives circulated fliers with a photo of Shepherd and a tip led them to a local tattoo parlour, where police found him getting more tattoos.
5. In 2002 two crack cocaine smoking crooks who stole a truck were caught after they left a 15-mile-long- trail of doughnuts.
The pair snatched a Krispy Kreme truck from a car park outside a convenience store and fled.
The truck had been parked with its rear doors open and engine running while a deliveryman carried doughnuts inside.
Two suspects hopped in the truck and sped off with doughnuts spilling out along the way.
They abandoned the truck when they were spotted by police responding to reports of a dangerous driver who was losing his doughnuts.
The pair had been smoking crack for several hours before the incident, but their motive for taking the Krispy Kreme truck was unclear.
"I don't know if it was a need for transportation or if they just had the munchies," a police spokesman said.
6. A daft teenage burglar made life easy for Pennsylvania detectives by leaving an online trail for cops.
Jonathan Parker checked into his Facebook account before leaving his victim’s house with two diamond rings but forgot to log out.
7. German cops were able to pin a burglary committed in April last year on a hungry serial thief after he left a half-eaten slice of salami carrying a sliver of his DNA at a crime scene.
The 37-year-old Romanian man was accused of breaking into a workshop office in the western city of Darmstadt, stealing cash and two locks and causing damage worth around £2,500.
A police spokesman said. "He didn`t bring the salami with him -- it was just lying around in the office".
8. An Arkansas State Police trooper sensed there was monkey business afoot when he spotted a truck with much of its windshield blocked by a large, stuffed ape.
When the copper pulled over the driver, he could smell what he suspected to be marijuana and so searched the vehicle. The trooper went on to arrest the driver after finding more than 2,100 hydrocodone pills, 70 Xanax pills and 85 Soma pills.
9. A turtle outfitted with a GPS device for research purposes helped police bust a teenager who had been using a public park to grow weed.
Researcher Ken Ferebee went to check on the tagged amphibian in Rock Creek Park in Washington when he found it was residing near 10 delicately tendered marijuana plants.
Park Police were put on alert and surveillance was set up to monitor the area. Police say they soon spotted 19-year-old Isiah Johnson caring for the plants.
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Topic: 10 weirdest ways police have caught crooks (Read 871 times)