THE DNA of a man accused of the armed robbery of a jewellery shop was found on both getaway cars, a court has heard.
A jury at the High Court in Livingston heard that cellular material matching Michael Hood was recovered from the driver's door handle of a white BMW used in the raid at Hamilton & Inches in Edinburgh's George Street last June.
Another swab taken from the handbrake of a fire damaged Honda CR-V vehicle which the masked raiders allegedly switched into to escape also matched Mr Hood's DNA.
Scottish Police Authority scientist Emily Service, 44, said the possibility of the BMW sample matching anyone other than Mr Hood was one in 18,000.
She said the statistical probability of the sample taken from the Honda being from another male was even higher: one in one billion.
She also analysed cellular material swabbed from the inside and outside of a disposable latex glove found in a door pocket of the Honda.
She established that the sample was a one in one billion match for the DNA of Hood's co-accused Kurtis Beech, 29.
Graphic designer Sabine Helman, 32, told of the dramatic moment a car sped the wrong way down a quiet one-way street outside her office in Edinburgh's New Town.
She ran to the door and saw a white BMW pull into a parking area and four people wearing dark clothing and backpacks get out.
When she went to look at the BMW with other members of the public she saw a blue ring box lying on the ground nearby.
A second ring box was later recovered by police from the rear footwell of the BMW 318i.
Mr Hood, 32, from Edinburgh, denies assault and robbery, reset, possession of cannabis and a series of motoring offences.
He is accused of acting with others with faces partially masked, brandishing weapons at staff in Hamilton & Inches staff, breaking open display cabinets containing watches and jewellery with machete, axe and sledgehammer or similar implements
He also denies driving a stolen white BMW bearing false number plates from George Street to Glouchester Lane, Edinburgh on the day of the raid with no licence or insurance and failing to comply with a No Entry sign.
He further denies resetting a second car and driving it in Gloucester Lane and elsewhere in Edinburgh with false number plates and no licence or insurance.
Mr Hood has lodged a special defence of alibi, claiming he was elsewhere when the robbery took place.
Mr Beech, of Salford, Manchester, denies driving two stolen cars allegedly used in the getaway from the North of England to Edinburgh in the days before the robbery without a proper licence or insurance.
The trial, before Lord Glennie, continues.
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