PD Hox tracks down suspect hiding in a field in Peacehaven
The two-year-old German Shepherd spotted a flicker of light in the bushes when the suspect pulled out a lighter to light his cigarette
A persistent police dog helped track down a suspect seen running from police across fields in Peacehaven.
Officers were called to Pelham Rise at 8.40pm on October 11 after a man was seen bleeding.
When officers arrived, they were unsure of the exact route taken by the suspect, but a flicker of light had been seen in a field earlier.
So PD Hox, a two-year-old German Shepherd, handled by PC Gareth Evers, was deployed to help track down the suspect.
PC Evers said:
“I was well briefed by the officers on the scene, and although the exact route taken by the suspects was unknown, a flicker of light was seen about 200 metres into the field where it was believed the suspect had lit a cigarette among bushes.
“I kept PD Hox deployed on a lead because the search area was far too great and progress through a ploughed field was slow.
“Hox began to track naturally and took me through to a small clearing in the bushes, over a barbed wire fence and into a neighbouring field.
“He then indicated to me where the suspect was. It was pitch black but we found a suspect sitting in high grass.”
Police charged 26-year-old James Graves, of Central Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, with two counts of causing criminal damage, theft in a dwelling, and assault by beating.
He appeared before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on October 13 and was has been remanded on conditional bail to appear before the court again on December 7.