Dandruff Costs U.K. Criminal His Freedom

[Champ]

LONDON - A veteran criminal received the longest prison sentence of his career Monday, after being caught because of the dandruff he had left behind at the scene of an armed robbery.



Using a DNA profiling method, investigators identified Andrew Pearson as a suspect by examining 25 flakes of dandruff found in a stocking he had worn as a mask during the robbery 11 years ago.


Pearson's two accomplices in the crime remain at large.


Andrew Pearson, now 40, and the two other men escaped with $70,630 in cash after raiding a caravan company in the northeastern city of Hull in June 1993.


Pearson — who had 76 pervious convictions for crimes such as burglary, assault and robbery — was only arrested in June for the caravan crime after the relatively new DNA procedure matched his dandruff with a swab of his saliva.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&ncid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20041122/ap_on_fe_st/britain_dandruff_conviction

[candy]

1. Hysterical------Go CSI,go! n/t

[LibLabUK]

3. Hmm..

We don't have CSI's in the UK. We have SOCOs (Scenes of Crime Officers), and they look quite comical dressed head to toe in white plastic...

[candy]

4. I'm a big mystery reader and many take place in the UK so I'm--

familiar with the term SOCO-----I also love the UK,been there 5 times and hope to visit again next spring.

[physioex]

2. Sounds like a possible...

Marketing campaign for Selsun Blue..... ;) (snicker)

[Spinzonner]

5. Criminals should never

underestimate the value of good grooming.

Maybe 'Queer Eye' should do a prison outreach.