It may bear a creepy resemblance to the film Minority Report, where people are arrested for crimes before they have committed them.

But scientists believe they may be able to pick out a potential criminal just by looking at their face.

Computer software created in China is able to identify someone who has committed a crime with up to 89.5 per cent accuracy, after scrolling through almost 1,900 facial images.

It found criminals have upper lips which curve around 23 per cent more and their eyes are closer together.