Police constable Kenneth Boorman is one of four officers - all based at the Essex police dog headquarters in Sandon, Essex - facing charges of cruelty.

Section head Inspector Graham Curtis, Sergeant Andrew White, head of training, trainer PC Stephen Hopkins and Boorman all deny a total of 17 allegations.

PC Boorman: "Unpopular"

PC White told Chelmsford Magistrates' Court in Essex that he held PC Boorman in high regard.

But he said PC Boorman's manner could be abrupt and the trainer was not popular with other dog handlers.

On one occasion two handlers - PCs Kieran Dale and Gary Talbot - told PC White that they did not want their dogs trained by PC Boorman.

"I was aware that there was very deep resentment towards PC Boorman," he said at the end of the third week of the trial.

"I was aware that PC Dale and PC Talbot had said they would not let a fat little Hitler train their dogs."

He said it was PC Talbot who said those words.

Cruelty allegations

PCs Boorman and Hopkins are charged with instructing handlers to suspend their dogs over fences and kick them - and that their methods were supported by PCs White and Curtis.

PC Boorman admits instructing handlers to kick dogs on five occasions between September and November last year.

But he denies cruelty and says he only gave the instructions as a last resort because the dogs were attacking their handlers.

PC Hopkins denies ever instructing a handler to kick a dog.

Peter Wain for the prosecution suggested the reason the dogs attacked their handlers might be related to PC Boorman's training methods.

PC White denied this and instead pinned the blame on the Surrey regional training centre in Guildford, run by Surrey Police.

Reasons for attacks

He said it was no coincidence that four dogs had attacked handlers shortly after returning from a course there.

"They all came back from Surrey at the same time," said PC White.

"I honestly believe that these are the reasons for the apparent discrepancy as to why so many dogs were attacking in a short space of time.

"My understanding was that the fault lay with Surrey."

The hearing was adjourned until Monday.