Burglar is caught by his earprint

A BURGLAR has made history in Lyon – where he became the first to be convicted due to his earprint.

The thief, a 26-year-old Georgian homeless man, was caught by police putting his ear to a door in a student residence in the city’s Cours Gambetta and arrested.

Officers then checked his earprint against several dozen others collected from house robberies since 2009 and found matches – nearly 80 of them in Lyon’s 3rd and 7th arrondissements. He admitted the offences.

The result is a first for France but police in Switzerland have kept a file of earprints for several years as each individual’s earprint is as unique as their fingerprint.