Burglar in gnash and grab

20.09.22: BURGLAR DAVID BENNETT, the first person to be arrested as a result of the new DNA PhotoFit, was caught by the skin of his teeth.

A professional burglar, he would not leave anything so obvious as a fingerprint, but he did help himself to a drink of tap water while turning over a house in St John's Wood, London. 'He left a couple of cells from the skin of his gums,' said Inspector Charles Thatcher of the Metropolitan Police Forensic Division, 'and that was enough for us to get a clear picture'.

A gene scanner read off his whole genetic structure. 'It showed he was about 5ft 10in, with unusual blue eyes, red hair, slightly balding,' said Thatcher. 'We also knew his weight, that he had a rare blood type and suffered from gallstones.'

Bennett was identified from a digitally created picture screened on news channels. Hospital records confirmed he'd had gallstones. Burglars with dandruff, beware. JB