French 'jewellery thief' caught by police after stealing a kiss from victim

The man, 20, has said he was just a lookout and that he kissed the jeweller to 'allay her trauma'

An alleged French jewellery thief who stole a kiss from his bound and gagged victim was caught after police analysed the DNA on his victim's cheek. (GETTY IMAGES)

An alleged French jewellery thief who stole a kiss from his bound and gagged victim was caught after police analysed the DNA on his victim's cheek.

Last April, two masked men tied the jeweller up in her apartment, poured what they said was petrol over her head and threatened to ignite it if she did not tell them the codes for the alarm in her shop, Le Parisien said.

After the robbers had cleared out the shop one of the men returned and released the woman, 56, who had been tied to a chair for four hours. It was then that he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"This hoodlum planted a kiss on her cheek, apparently in a sign of compassion after the terrible ordeal she’d just been through," a police source told Le Parisien.

"There was a small hope that they would be able to isolate the genetic prints of her assailant. His DNA was indeed singled out and then registered in the national genetic print database."

The man, 20, has said he was just a lookout and that he kissed the jeweller to "allay her trauma". Police were still looking for his accomplice, Le Parisien said.