A VIOLENT offender was caught by a police dog after fleeing across fields.

Connor Graves, 26, of Central Avenue, Telscombe Cliffs, admitted assault by beating, theft, and two counts of criminal damage at Brighton Magistrates Court on March 16. 

In October last year, Graves had damaged the tyres of a vehicle and cut his hand while drunk before attending the home of a woman who was known to him in Peacehaven.

Inside the property, he sprayed blood from the wound, causing further criminal damage.

He then assaulted the victim and stole her phone before leaving the house.

The Argus: PD HoxtonPD Hoxton

Officers from Lewes were called to the property at 8.40pm after reports of a man who was seen bleeding and identified as a suspect in a domestic abuse incident.

When they arrived, they were unsure of the exact route taken by the suspect, but a flicker of light had earlier been seen in a field nearby.

PD Hoxton, a two-year-old German Shepherd handled by PC Gareth Evers, was brought in to help locate Graves.

PC Evers said: “I was well briefed by the officers on scene, and although the exact route taken by the suspect 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 Hoxton 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 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.”

Graves was ordered to complete mental health treatment and 20 rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) sessions as part of a 20-week suspended prison sentence.

He was also ordered to pay a total of £726.80 in compensation to two victims as well as an £80 fine.