ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Overweight people are often seen as "too fat" to commit crimes, new research suggests.

Scientists have warned our prejudices around body image could be "getting in the way of justice", as we assume muscular people are more likely to commit crimes.

A study by London's South Bank University found just 10 per cent of those who were overweight were regarded as most likely to commit a crime.

Researchers asked participants who they suspected of carrying out a violent or non-violent robbery after watching videos of two attacks.

The thief was dressed in a way that concealed their body and face.

People were then asked to identify the thief from a suspect line-up of muscular, overweight and normal suspects.

The photos in the line-up had been previously altered so that each face in the line-up was randomly assigned a body-type.

The true thief was not offered as a suspect choice in the line-up. This meant the participants in the study had to rely on their own judgements and bias to choose suspects.

The results found that 51 per cent of participants accused muscular suspects of being the perpetrator in the video.

Meanwhile some 37 per cent thought suspects of a normal weight were most likely to have committed the crime. Just 10 per cent believed overweight suspects could be the aggressor.

Dr Julia Shaw, senior lecturer in criminology, who carried out the study, said: "Stereotypes about body type may be getting in the way of justice.

"Our findings suggest that if you are an innocent suspect of a crime but happen to be muscular, you may be at a significant disadvantage.

"Body type is often overlooked as a basis for discrimination, and has rarely been examined in legal contexts.

"The present research is evidence that the body type of a suspect can impact the partiality of eye-witness accounts."

The research on 93 people was published in the journal Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.