A drugs dealer whose Staffordshire Bull Terriers put three police officers in hospital has been jailed today for three years and six months.

The dogs attacked as police struggled to arrest Charles Joseph Jones, aged 22, in his flat at Benton House in Goat Street, Haverfordwest.

One of the dogs, named Mercedes, bit all three officers.

Jones admitted possessing ecstasy with intent to supply and the simple possession of cannabis resin. He also admitted five charges of owning a dog that was dangerously out of control.

Nicola Powell, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court how on October 1 last year officers were carrying out door to door inquiries relating to an entirely different matter when they knocked on Jones’ doors.

Police could immediately smell cannabis and gained entry.

Jones appeared to be lying unconscious on a bed and others in the flat seemed to be under the influence of substances.

Jones came round and ordered the police out of his flat. Later he became more aggressive and grabbed hold of an officer’s taser device, causing them both to fall onto a bed.

The officers then noticed the dogs. Mercedes bit Officers Alan Griffiths, Stephen Thomas and Rhys Howells, while Tia, another Staffordshire, bit Officers Thomas and Howells.

All three needed hospital treatment.

But they managed to recover 15 ecstasy tablets, five grams of ecstasy crystals, cannabis and weighing scales displaying traces of cannabis.

The police also found that Jones had sent out a mobile telephone text message only the day before to 57 people telling them “the pills are in.”

And £874 in cash was also discovered.

Frank Phillips, the barrister representing Jones, said he was a dog lover and was now more concerned about what would happen to Mercedes and Tia than himself.

Judge Mervyn T Hughes said, “It is perfectly clear that you and the others were under the influence of controlled substances.

“You were abusive and physically aggressive. Serious injuries were caused and it must have been terrifying for officers carrying out their duties.”

The court heard that Jones had been warned by the police in 2016 after Mercedes bit a jogger running along the Pembrokeshire coastal footpath, and he ordered the destruction of the dog.

No order was made in relation to Tia but Jones was banned from keeping dogs for the next four years.

Judge Hughes also gave the £874 to Dyfed Powys Police.