One in a billion: Baseball bat-wielding teen caught thanks to shoe's DNA
Joshua Montgomery-Gray's shoe got stuck in the door of his victim's home - Credit: Cambs police
A teenager who confronted a woman on the doorstep of her Melbourn home, armed with a baseball bat, was linked to the crime after his shoe got stuck in the door.
Joshua Montgomery-Gray, of Medcalfe Way in the village, was traced to the scene by his DNA on the trainer - but only more than a year later after he was arrested for a separate crime.
He knocked on the door of the victim's house with another man on November 11, 2018 - both were wearing balaclavas.
The woman noticed one of the men was armed with a baseball bat and as she looked at him he raised the bat to shoulder height.
She screamed and tried to shut the door, at which point her son came downstairs to help.
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As the pair tried to shut the door, a shoe belonging to Montgomery-Gray became wedged in the gap.
The woman then went to call the police but as she did so, the defendant used the bat to smash the glass in the front door before both fled.
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The woman’s son kicked the shoe, which had been left behind still wedged in the door, into the living room, and the size 11 Nike Air Max trainer was later seized by police and sent off for forensic examination.
However, there was no DNA match on the system and it was only when the 19-year-old was arrested in January last year for threatening behaviour that he was then traced to the previous crime.
The forensics returned a full profile DNA result, with a one in one billion chance the DNA belonged to anyone else.
The defendant was arrested for the Melbourn offence on January 31 last year and at Peterborough Crown Court on December 2 he pleaded guilty to affray and criminal damage.
He also admitted threatening behaviour after being linked to a disorder outside Fez nightclub in Cambridge - where he had threatened door staff, punched a metal fence and then resisted arrest.
DC Craig McPherson, who investigated, said: “Thanks to the vital work of our forensics teams on the shoe left at the scene, we were able to link Montgomery-Gray to the crime despite his no comment interview.
“This incident must have been incredibly frightening and left a woman and her son scared in their own home after being confronted by two men they didn’t know in balaclavas.”
Montgomery-Gray was sentenced at the same court yesterday - where he was handed 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to complete a 25-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £210 in compensation to the victim.
