Crazed burglar left TOOTH at crime scene after biting pensioner
A tooth lost by a crazed burglar when he chomped on a pensioner's arm during a break-in came back to bite him after it led to his conviction.
Lee Francis, 39, broke into the house in Manor Park Road, Castle Bromwich, on the May 8 but was disturbed when the homeowner returned to find him rummaging through an upstairs bedroom.
The 66-year-old man bravely tackled Francis and, during a struggle, was bitten with such force he was left with a fractured finger.
Francis went on to assault the man's 93-year-old mother ? who laid into him with a walking stick as the pair tussled on the kitchen floor ? before fleeing with property valued at almost £2,000.
However, on July 18 ? more than two months after the break-in ? the victims found a tooth in their washing machine.
The incisor was handed over to West Midlands Police detectives, and when forensics experts analysed the tooth it returned a DNA hit to 39-year-old Francis.
He was arrested and later charged with burglary, assault and drugs production after a small cannabis factory was uncovered in the loft of his home in Timberley Lane, Shard End.
On November 3 at Birmingham Crown Court, Francis admitted the offences and was jailed for a total of six years and four months.
Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Tagg, said: "During the scuffle a washing basket was upended and it seems that one of Francis' teeth ? which fell out due to the ferocity of the bite ? ended up mixed in with the dirty washing.
"It stayed undetected for several weeks until the residents heard it rattling around in the washing machine.
"Initially it was unclear if it was a human or animal tooth. But when it was ground down and analysed by forensics it identified Francis as the former owner."
