You hear true accounts of burglars leaving their wallet in the victim’s house or smoking a cigarette and then leaving the butt behind – read on!

Criminal mastermind is not a term that can be applied to a thief in Motril after she cut herself on glass from a broken window in a parked Renault Traffic van, leaving blood in the interior.

Well, these blood stains on the seat were her undoing because the police managed to identify her from this DNA sample.

The theft took place on the 26th of February 2016 on Calle Gregorio Marañón. She claimed before the judge that she could not remember having broken into the car, but with the DNA evidence, her confession wasn’t necessary and she was handed down a 30-month jail sentence.

However, the appeals court reduced it down to just one year because the tribunal considered that it had not been proven that she had actually broken into the car – i.e., the window could have already been broken and she had taken advantage of this to reach in and rip out the music system.

In other words, without the aggravation of forcing an entry, the crime was reduced to petty theft.

However, the thief still has to compensate the car-insurance company a total 1,609 euros: 575 euros corresponds to the value of the music system and the rest to cover the damaged caused to the dashboard etc.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)