A police dog has made a miracle recovery by jumping up from his deathbed to catch two shoplifters after following their scent for more than a mile.

Sussex Police dog Judge made a dramatic recovery from his sick bed by helping to catch two criminals on his first day back at work after fighting off a life-threatening chest injury in August when he was impaled on a spike.

Judge's handler PC Colin Langham was on patrol in Harrow Lane, Hastings, when he was flagged down by a shopkeeper and told that two men had grabbed items from his shelves and run off towards the nearby football pitches at 2.30pm on Monday September 22.

Judge picked up the escapees’ scent, tracking them across two pitches, through a hedge, across waste ground and into Welton Rise, then down Harrow Lane.

The scent then led into Towerscroft Avenue where two 22-year-old men from Hastings were arrested by neighbourhood response officers PC Micky Haddock and PC Rob Adams.

The two men admitted stealing chocolate bars from Baldslow Post Office and the incident was dealt with by community resolution with each of the offenders paying the shopkeeper 80p for the chocolate and apologising for what they had done.

It was a remarkable recover for Judge was impaled on a metal spike that was sticking out of the ground while being exercised on open land off Queensway in Hastings at 5am on August 11.

PC Langham rushed him to Greenleaves vet in Bexhill who said the wound required specialist treatment to save his life as air entering his thorax with every breath would cause his lungs to collapse.

His owner then drove him straight to the Royal Veterinary College in Hertfordshire where he was immediately operated on before slowly recovering in intensive care for a number of days.

PC Langham said: "That was without doubt my hardest and longest day, both mentally and physically, in 23 years of service.

"I'm just pleased Judge survived and is on course to making a full recovery.

“He is a young dog and now is back doing what he's good at and what I'm sure he enjoys.

"Judge literally came back to work with no training and tracked the men as if he'd never had a break at all. I'm very pleased with him."

Inspector Di Lewis, the head of the force's dogs unit, said: "The teamwork between PC Langham, Judge and the response officers shows the value of dog teams to the force.

"If it was not for the nose of Judge and the skills of PC Langham, this crime would likely have never been detected.

"Although this was a relatively minor offence, the detail of what the two men did is now in our records so if they do anything similar they can expect a tougher punishment."