A drunken Bradford man plunged his teeth into a squealing police dog's neck to "teach it a lesson" after it bit him, a Court was told.

Angry teenager Mark Binns wanted to get his own back on the Alsatian after it had bitten him on the arm.

Gripping the animal with both hands, 19-year-old Binns sank his teeth into the dog which yelped in agony.

For two or three minutes, officers tried to free it from his tight grasp but Binns, of Bentcliffe Walk, Allerton, refused to budge and "growled like an animal" despite being kicked and even struck with a baton several times.

In desperation, one of them then squirted him in the face with CS spray and the dog, Prince, was finally pulled clear.

At a trial yesterday at Bradford Magistrates Court, dog handler PC Kevin Taylor said: "I thought he was biting the dog's throat.

"It was squealing as if it was in agony. I was fearful for its life. He (Binns) was growling like an animal.

"The dog was squealing for two or three minutes. It seemed a hell of a long time," he added. "I thought the dog's throat was being ripped out at the time."

Opening the case, prosecutor Robert Blantern told the court that Binns had called the police himself after leaving a Bradford nightclub, realising he was locked out of his mother's house.

Looking for a warm place to stay during the middle of the night, he smashed a window to get into a launderette.

But when the police turned up Binns was aggressive, clenching his fists and kicking the front door.

After he refused to come out of the property, one of the officers grabbed hold of his shirt collar and pulled him through the smashed window onto the floor.

PC Taylor described how Binns was then throwing punches and "thrashing about wildly."

He said: "I was trying to half protect myself. I was on the floor with him. He was on top of me.

"Seeing this man on top of me the dog took hold of his right arm, enabling me to wriggle myself free from the situation, stand up and gain control."

He said the dog may have bitten Binns for two or three seconds before the dog was ordered to move away.

"I had effectively detained this man and then suddenly from nowhere he launched forward and grabbed the dog with his hands and pulled it to him.

"He clamped the dog to him and buried his head in the neck region," he added. "I have never seen anything like it in my life."

When interviewed, Binns described how he had been "absolutely blathered" after drinking more than ten pints that evening last December.

He also admitted biting the dog, but denied throwing punches and growling like an animal.

Asked why he bit the dog, he replied: "Because the dog bit me. I wanted to teach it a lesson."

For Binns, who was not in court, Paul Jacobson said: "He acted instinctively and reacted by grabbing the dog because the dog was effectively savaging him."

Mr Jacobson added: "It's my contention that the dog was savaging him and he defended himself. The dog was beyond the control of the officer at that stage even though he was holding it by a lead."

But Stipendiary Magistrate Morris Cooper said that the dog had been under police control, adding that it was not "practicable" for the officers to explain to Binns at that time that he was under arrest.

Binns was convicted in his absence of obstructing a police officer and causing unnecessary suffering to the animal.

He had pleaded guilty on an earlier occasion to a charge of criminal damage and failing to surrender to custody.

A warrant was issued for Binns' arrest.