PC Kenneth Boorman was describing how a German shepherd dog died after he had ordered its handler to kick it.

PC Boorman: Twenty years' experience

PC Boorman and three other policemen from the Essex Police dog section - Inspector Graham Curtis, Sergent Andrew White and PC Stephen Hopkins - deny charges of cruelty.

The defendant wiped away tears as he told the court how a police dog called Acer collapsed after it was kicked by its handler PC Mark Needham. The incident happened at the Essex Police dog section headquarters at Sandon last November.

He told Chelmsford magistrates' court Acer had tried to bite PC Needham and he had instructed him to hang the dog up by its chain over a fence and kick him.

PC Needham followed the instructions and kicked Acer several times.

The dog was unable to carry on with further training exercises and died soon afterwards.

PC Needham 'a bit heavy'

The officer said that this method of discipline was only used when a dog attacked its handler and that animals were never suspended so that all four legs left the ground.

"I was particularly careful to mention to be careful about the way he kicked, because being PC Needham he would sometimes go a bit heavy," said PC Boorman.

A police dog handler with more than 20 years' experience, PC Boorman became a training instructor at Sandon last year.

He denies six allegations of causing officers to cruelly ill-treat their dogs between September and December 1997.