There's Stupid and then there's...

We're aware that the criminal classes are not normally well up there, they weren't front of the line when the brains were handed out. However:

A thief in Germany was charred beyond recognition by a 10,000 volt electric shock when he tried to steal a live copper cable, authorities said Monday.

Police in the western city of Duisburg found the 32-year-old man's blackened remains by a set of cable cutters and pile of non-live cables he had already stolen.

Only because one of his hands survived incineration were officers able to identify the man as German of Kazakh origin.

"His fingerprints were already logged on police files," a local police spokesman said. "The force of the shock was so great that the hand was severed from his body."

There's stupid and then there's stupid. Trying to steal a live cable is well up there in hte annals of idocy. What next? Stealing a car motor while it's still running? After all, we've already had the stealing a police car incident.