Crazed burglar who BIT pensioner during break is jailed after cops found his TOOTH
Thug bit OAP so hard his finger bone snapped - but pensioner's mum gave him a good whacking with a walking stick
A BURGLAR who sunk his teeth into an OAP while carrying out a raid of their house was caught by cops - after they managed to track him down because he left a TOOTH behind.
Lee Francis, 39, broke into his 66-year-old victim's home and was found rummaging through an upstairs bedroom.
The OAP bravely tackled Francis to the floor, but during the struggle Francis bit him with such force the man was left with a fractured finger on May 8.
Francis also attacked the pensioner's 93-year-old mother, who hit him with a walking stick, before fleeing the house in Castle Bromwich, West Mids., with items worth £2,000.
But astonishingly cops caught Francis after his victim was doing his laundry and found the thug's tooth in their washing machine on July 18.
West Midlands Police forensics team identified the DNA and arrested Francis, who was also found with a small cannabis factory in his home.
Francis, of Shard End, Birmingham, admitted burglary, assault and drugs production.
He was jailed for six years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court on November 3.
Solihull Police 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.
"This was a really nasty incident, the man described hearing a crunch when Francis bit his finger and suffered a fracture and tendon damage. At one stage he also grabbed him around the neck and threatened to strangle him.
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"Francis has rightly been sent to prison for a considerable period of time and residents in Solihull will be all the safer as a result."
Former IT consultant and granddad-of-three Ronald Parker, 66, retired seven years ago to move in with his mother, Rose, 93, after she suffered her second stroke.
He told of how he wrestled with Lee Francis while Rose, who used to help out at an old people's home, battered the thug over the head with a walking stick.
He said: "It was about 10.30pm when I came back and mum was watching TV.
"I could see her bedroom light was on, which is never on day or night, so I thought my brother Philip was home.
"I walked in and called upstairs to him when suddenly there were the two or three massive bangs and this man was running down the stairs.
"He took huge strides and threw his hands in the air like a matador and shouted and growled at me like an animal.
"Then he just launched himself at me and my immediate reaction was to just grab him.
"I pulled on his lapels and we fell down together and rolled along the hallway.
"My mother, who struggles to walk, wondered in wandering what was going on. I shouted at her to dial 999.
"At this point he got up and gave her a smack and sent her flying into the wall.
"Then he came back at me and we wrestled to the floor again, we were grappling on the kitchen floor and everything was breaking around us.
"Mum managed to crawl using her arms back to the phone and dial 999. She then managed to get herself upright by crawling onto a chair.
"She made her way into the kitchen with my father's old walking cane and at this point I was on top of him, then he grabbed my hand and started biting.
"I heard this almighty crack like a dog biting a bone and I felt sick. I thought he'd bitten my fingers clean off.
"At that moment my mum whacked him across the head with my father's walking cane.
"It had a bone handle that came right off, she really thwacked him.
"I shouted: 'Call an ambulance, he's bitten my fingers off.'
"I managed to get my fingers out of his mouth, but then he just sunk his teeth into the side of my chest and ripped off the flesh.
"All this time he was growling like an animal and he pushed me over and started to throttle me saying: 'I'm going to kill you'.
"Mum hit him again and said, 'Get off him,' and he said, 'Not until I've killed him.'
"Mum then very cleverly went to the door and said: 'I'm letting the police in,' even though they weren't there.
"He jumped up and ran straight out, sending her flying again."
The police arrived shortly after and they were taken to hospital where Ron discovered he had a fractured finger.
He said: "We didn't want to touch all the mess in the kitchen, so Philip tidied it all up.
"There was a load of linen and he swept it all up and put it in a linen basket.
"Then months later I finally decided to wash it.
"I heard this rattling in the machine and thought it was a pound coin, then discovered it was a whole tooth.
"I thought there's only one place that could have come from, and sure enough when I gave it to police they identified it as Lee Francis'.
"We have mixed feelings about him going to jail. Mum is still very worried about people coming round and we do fear for our safety.
"He definitely needs to be behind bars, because he's dangerous. But we feel sorry for his family, and we strangely do feel bad about him having to go to jail.
"We wouldn't wish it upon anyone and have sympathy for his loved ones."
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