A POLICE dog helped officers chase a suspected drink- driver across almost three miles of countryside.

Blyss ignored distractions such as traffic and livestock to guide her handler across fields and farmland after a car crash at about 6.20am on Sunday.

The seven-year-old German Shepherd jumped into action after the collision at Beddingham Roundabout, at the junctions of the A26 and A27 near Lewes.

Officers found an abandoned Volkswagen Polo slammed into signs at the roundabout and witnesses said four men had left the vehicle.

About half an hour later, a group of four men were seen walking on the A26 south of the crash but traffic police could not find them.

Blyss led her handler Sergeant Graeme McKee for almost three miles through the South Downs and back on to the A26.

Four men were detained by officers who had searched the road ahead of Blyss.

Sgt McKee, of the Sussex and Surrey Police Dog Unit, said: “We spend a lot of time and effort in training our dogs to track suspects or missing people.

“A long cross-country track like this is a great reminder of what our dogs can do and there is still no bit of technology invented that can do what a dog’s nose can.

“Blyss showed great focus on her work, even tracking through several fields of livestock and straight past sheep that most dogs would want to chase.

“She – like all of our police dogs – is a credit to the force and clearly a key asset in catching criminals.”

Tyler Thompson, 20, a telephonist, of Marden Close, Brighton, has been arrested and charged with driving with 45mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system.

He is due to appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on October 20.