Just in case we thought that DNA evidence was perfect:

Police in Germany have admitted that a woman they have been hunting for more than 15 years never in fact existed.

Dubbed the “phantom of Heilbronn”, the woman was described by police as the country’s most dangerous woman.

Investigators had connected her to six murders and an unsolved death based on DNA traces found at the scene.

Police now acknowledge swabs used to collect DNA samples were contaminated by an innocent woman working in a factory in Bavaria

I like this bit:

One company making swabs said they were not intended for analytical, but only medical use, while another said that there had been no requirement for the swabs to be free of DNA.

Egad. Well, at least she’s not this guy: