A leech, a robber and a drop of blood

A leech, a robber and a drop of blood

Police in Australia were able to catch a robber after eight years thanks to the blood they collected from a leech.

October 20, 2009 2:41 by kippreport

This story has all the right ingredients for a great book, or even a thriller movie.

Police in Australia managed to capture a robber eight years after he committed the crime thanks to the blood that a leech sucked out of him at that time. Peter Alec Cannon has pleaded guilty to stealing $510 from an old woman’s home in 2001, and is now waiting for sentencing, reports AFP.

According to the police, the bloodsucking insect was the only evidence that they found at the scene.

“As there was no evidence of any leech bites from the victim or the police present we thought it was a good chance to have come from one of the offenders,” Detective Inspector Mick Johnston told local newspaper The Mercury.

Police took a sample of the blood from the leech for DNA profiling, and in late 2008, police found a match when Cannon was tested for drug offences.

“It is the oddest way of convicting anyone I have ever been involved in,” Johnston said.”I have not been able to find any similar cases anywhere in the world — nothing like this at all.”

The only thing we would probably add to the script is a sprinkle of romance.