Leech Points Police to Criminal

7:14AM BST Mirror.co.uk NEWS, Sydney--

Australian Police have used blood from a leech to identify a criminal after 8 years, believed to be a first in forensics.

In 2001 two men broke into a 71-year-old woman's home in Northern Tasmania, Australia, threatened her and stole $550.

While the men didn't leave any fingerprints, a leech was found gorged with blood on the floor next to the tied-up victim.

Because neither the victim nor any of the officers had been bitten, police deduced the blood in the leech must belong to one of the assaulters. So the DNA of the blood in the leech was added to their database.

In 2008 Peter Cannon was charged over a drug offence and his DNA was found to match the sample. Canon has now pleaded guilty for the 8-year-old robbery.

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Information from: Mirror.co.uk NEWS
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