A SUSPECT who left his shirt at the scene of an attack was caught by a DNA test, a court heard yesterday.

Christopher Michael Scott wriggled free from his shirt to escape from Philip Shanley, but forensic scientists were able to use it to identify him when he gave a mouth swab later.

Christopher Baker, prosecuting, said trouble flared when Mr Shanley mistakenly accused Scott of conning £20 out of an elderly neighbour in the Grove Hill area of Middlesbrough.

He rang police when he saw Scott later, and then made a citizen's arrest, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Mr Shanley held Scott in a headlock, and Scott twisted out of his shirt, which ripped and came off, and he ran away.

The shirt was left at the scene. Thanks to DNA evidence, he was arrested ten months later.

Nigel Soppitt, in mitigation, said there was no doubt that the victim believed that Scott had done something. He also said Scott was punched and kicked.

He said: "Mr Scott was on drugs and he was a witness in a murder trial.

"He was lying low staying away from threats of intimidation, and selling scissors and lighters from door to door.

"He feared that if he was arrested and remanded in custody, he might be subject to further threats."

Judge Les Spittle said there were unusual circumstances in the case resulting from the mistaken identification of Scott.

Scott, of Sheepfoot Hill, Yarm, was ordered to do 120 hours' community punishment and to pay £265 prosecution costs after he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm on July 30 last year.