TWO men were arrested by a police officer and his dog on Tuesday following a theft at Dick Lovett Jaguar Land Rover in Melksham.

At around 10.30pm on Tuesday, July 9, police received a report from a CCTV operator monitoring the site that a man had been seen trying door handles and removing parts from vehicles.

Officers attended the scene and spotted a man standing on top of a Land Rover Discovery in the rear compound.

The man was seen to jump the fence along with a second man. Both ran off and were detained after a short foot chase involving Police Dog Lorrie who detained one of the men in a stand-off position.

A search of the perimeter of the site was carried out and a number of high value vehicle parts were located. These had been removed from vehicles within the compound and included headlights, rear light clusters, grills and tow bars.

A further search was carried out on a vehicle parked nearby in Semington Road, and numerous items were located including tools and vehicle parts.

A 22-year-old man and a 40-year-old man from Kent were both arrested on suspicion of theft and have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.

Inspector James Brain said: “This was another great example of specialist officers from the dog unit working alongside local community policing officers to detain individuals following a report of suspicious activity.

"One man at the scene decided to run away from officers, but PD Lorrie was released and gave chase, causing the fleeing suspect to give himself up.

"This is exactly the type of incidents that our dogs and their handlers are trained to deal with – it is rare that they are able to carry out a ‘chase and detain’ – the sheer presence of the dog was enough to persuade one of the suspects to stop running from officers and he was detained swiftly. An excellent result by all involved.”