So, the McCann-haters think there was 'no point' in collecting cigarette butts around 5a?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215535/New-York-man-pleads-guilty-1998-rape-robbery-DNA-cigarette-butt-links-crime-scene.html

Man pleads guilty to 1998 rape and robbery of college professor, 28, after DNA on cigarette butt links him to crime scene
Lerio Guerrero raped and robbed a 28-year-old college professor in Manhattan in 1998
He was linked to the case after a cigarette was found at the scene of a crime which he had nothing to do with
By SARA MALM
PUBLISHED: 10:59, 10 October 2012 | UPDATED: 13:22, 10 October 2012
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Butt-sted: A DNA sample from a discarded cigarette led the police to solve the 14-year-old crime
A man has been convicted of a violent rape committed 14 years ago after police found his DNA on a cigarette.
Lerio Guerrero, 34, pleaded guilty to the rape and robbery of a 28-year-old college professor in the Lower East Village, Manhattan in 1998 after police linked him to the crime over a decade later.
The cigarette was found whilst police investigated the scene of another sexual assault in 2011 where they encountered Mr Guerrero.

After arresting him for trespassing and possession of a knife, they took DNA from the cigarette – and discovered a match with the 1998 case.
According to reports, Mr Guerrero had nothing to do with the 2011 case and was merely trying to get a closer look at the crime scene.
In November 1998, Leiro Guerrero, of Staten Island, attacked the college professor as she entered her New York apartment building.
After pushing in through the door, he raped her before robbing her.
When he found the contents of her wallet unsatisfying, Mr Guerrero held a piece of broken glass against her neck and forced her to take him to an ATM, where she emptied her account.

She managed to retrieve $800 but, still unhappy, Mr Guerrero dragged her to a second cash machine. She was able to break free and seek help.
Police say DNA was recovered from blood found on the victim's jacket, left there when her assailant cut himself on the shard of glass he was using as a weapon. At the time, no-one was convicted of the attack and the case went cold.

Mr Guerrero was arrested several times over the following years, including a drink-driving conviction and possession of marijuana. Each time, however, he was not linked to the 1998 case.
It was not until he trespassed at the 2011 rape scene and left behind the remains of his cigarette that New York Police could link him to the crime 13 years earlier.
Mr Guerrero was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty which reduced the sentence from 25 years.
The case echoes a similar situation in Montgomery County, Maryland, where a DNA sample from a convicted serial rapist helped solve a 25-year-old case.
DNA obtained from a scene where a 20-year-old woman had been brutally raped in 1988 was matched to a sample in the national DNA database CODIS from William Joseph Trice.
In turn, this sample could be linked to two more cold case rapes of which Mr Trice had been convicted in 2008.

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Pity Gonc's lot hadn't shown such diligence, isn't it?

And doesn't it make pretendypete's claim of the dog-ends being valueless look really, really stupid?

Re: MADDIE MCCANN MAY HAVE BEEN WATCHED FROM BALCONY, WITNESS TELLS YARD
PeterMac on Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:32 am

And again, just to re-cap, even if they had taken the cigarette butts, and even if they were all from the same person, and even if they had been able to find sufficient DNA - which is not very likely anyway - and even if . . .
Then what ?
Unless a person's DNA were in the database Re: MADDIE MCCANN MAY HAVE BEEN WATCHED FROM BALCONY, WITNESS TELLS YARD
PeterMac on Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:32 am

And again, just to re-cap, even if they had taken the cigarette butts, and even if they were all from the same person, and even if they had been able to find sufficient DNA - which is not very likely anyway - and even if . . .
Then what ?
Unless a person's DNA were in the database what are you going to do now ?
DNA screen the entire population of PdL ?

DNA is like a fingerprint. On its own it is useless. It takes you nowhere UNLESS you have something else.
And that something else is a person in custody.

what are you going to do now ? - asks pretendypete.

Well, you can always do what the New York police did, and keep the EVIDENCE secure until the day came when it helped catch a rapist.

Well, you can always do what the New York police did, and keep the EVIDENCE secure until the day came when it helped catch a rapist.

That's why we call him pretendypete, innit?

Or you can ask the Brits to check the results against their database, or you can ask the Germans to check the results against the database, or the French maybe or anyone else you can think of who is part of Interpol and is far enough ahead in their policing to have one, till your own rather old-fashioned (I nearly said backward) country gets round to setting one up.

Perhaps Pretendypete has never heard of Interpol? LOL