A MAN is claiming damages after being attacked by a police dog and then punched and kicked by police officers, a court heard yesterday.

Lawrence Andrew Agar, 35, alleged he was attacked, falsely imprisoned and brought before magistrates on charges of assaulting a police officer.

Teesside County Court heard allegations that six-and-a-half stone police dog Bosco launched an unprovoked attack on Mr Agar after he had been drinking with a friend, near his Middlesbrough home, on Boxing Day in 1997.

His barrister, Jamie Hill, told a jury that Mr Agar had drunk five or six pints during the evening in The Grove public house, on the Easterside estate.

He left the pub and was walking home with his girlfriend when Bosco attacked him.

Mr Hill said his client had spoken to the dog's handler, PC Mark Robson, prior to the attack, but denied Mr Agar had acted in a threatening manner.

He said: "PC Robson advanced with Bosco towards Mr Agar. As they arrived, Bosco started to bite Mr Agar, taking hold of his leg."

Mr Agar, of Broadwell Road, and his partner, 36-year-old Maxine Pursey, of Gretton Avenue, Middlesbrough, are suing the Chief Constable of Cleveland Police, claiming assault and battery, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

The jury heard that Mr Agar had been charged previously with assault on PC Robson, a case which collapsed at Teesside Magistrates' Court.

Evidence given at the earlier trial suggested that Mr Agar had lifted the dog by the throat with one hand.

But the claimant's barrister said this was untrue, saying Mr Agar was the victim of an unprovoked attack in which he was bitten repeatedly by the German shepherd and knocked to the ground by police officers, after he was sprayed in the face with CS gas.

The jury was shown photographs of the wounds on his right thigh, which included a gash more than an inch deep.

Peter Johnson, for Cleveland Police, claimed Mr Agar had been inciting a crowd of people outside the pub into a frenzy of aggression.

He said he had been acting in an intimidating manner, which had left PC Robson with little option but to let the dog go to the full length of its lead.

Mr Johnson said that, following his arrest, Mr Agar demanded to know the police handler's name and threatened to "tear his throat out" if he found it out.

The hearing continues