THE news, revealed in today's Evening News, that DNA testing has been used to track down and help convict a person who went on a car-wrecking spree in Worcester is good indeed.

For years, we have been aware that the advancement of medical technology has allowed forensic scientists to eliminate people from inquiries and - in some cases - to identify, without doubt, those that had been "at the scene" of the crime.

We have said in the past that there must be something radically wrong when police are prevented from bringing persistent offenders to court because vital evidence is not available to them.

However, the writing must now be well and truly on the wall for criminals.

In the past DNA testing has been associated almost entirely with high-profile and controversial cases - murders, offences against the person and the like.

The heartening news is that this technique is now being utilised to provide irrefutable evidence against criminals at the lower end of the scale.

We hope that this will help to build public confidence in the police as they now have an extremely powerful detection tool in their armoury.

It should also act as a strong deterrent to even the most minor of felons.

If he (or she) knows that there is a greater chance of detection, then they are likely to be a bit more circumspect before committing the crime in the first place