Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Australian robber jailed after leech provides DNA

A Tasmanian man is in jail after police used blood from a leech to make a DNA match from a 2001 robbery scene.

Peter Alec Cannon, 54, of Lalla Rd, Lilydale, north of Launceston, pleaded guilty today to an aggravated armed robbery committed on September 28, 2001.

Crown prosecutor John Ransom told the Supreme Court that senior constable Nathan Slater had picked up a leech from near a safe at the scene of the crime.

A DNA sample was taken from the blood in the leech by Forensic Science Services Tasmania. Seven years later when Cannon was charged with a drugs crime and a DNA sample was taken from him, police came up with a match.

The court heard that Cannon and another man had robbed Fay Olson of $500 and poked her with sticks.

Mrs Olson, then 71, lived in a bushland setting and was robbed while her husband was away. Justice Ewan Crawford remanded Cannon in custody for sentence on Friday at 2.15pm.

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