A man has been found guilty by a jury of commanding his dog to bite a police officer as he resisted arrest.

James Marcus Doherty, 40, repeatedly shouted to Staffordshire terrier Luna to 'get her, bite her’.

He had denied a single count of unlawful wounding but a seven-strong jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at lunch time on Friday, having deliberated for a total of just under three hours.

Deemster Graeme Cook told him: ‘You effectively used a dog as a weapon to bite a police officer during the execution of her duty.’

Doherty was remanded in custody pending sentencing later this year.

The female sergeant received three puncture wounds to her right thigh which a medical expert told the jury were highly consistent with a dog bite injury.

But Doherty’s defence claimed that the officer's injuries were caused by broken glass.

During his five-day trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery, the defendant accepted his behaviour had been ‘disgraceful’ and he was ‘embarrassed and ashamed’ by his conduct.

He also accepted that he had said ‘get them, bite them’ but insisted there had been no intention to cause the officers harm and the dog did not understand the command ‘bite’.

The court heard that at 8.45pm on July 17 last year, two female police officers attended his address on Murray’s Road in Douglas to arrest him for traffic offences.

Upon arrival, Mr Doherty was described as ‘totally naked’ and intoxicated. He was slurring his words and unsteady on his feet.

The two police officers asked him to get dressed. As they attempted to handcuff him, Mr Doherty told them: ‘I’m not having two women control me’.

In bodyworn camera footage shown in court, he is seen dragging them both down the hallway towards the entrance of his flat before he is Pava sprayed.

One of the officers is heard telling him: ‘get on the floor now, get on the floor now’.

Mr Doherty then shouts at Luna, to ‘get her, f***ing bite them, bite them’.

His defence advocate Ian Kermode asked: ‘Have you trained Luna to respond to those words?’

‘She’s never been trained to bite anybody,’ the defendant replied.

Mr Doherty was arrested after officers called for back-up.

Giving evidence, he said he couldn’t see anything after being Pava sprayed. Cross-examining, prosecutor James Robinson put it to him that if it was accepted the injuries were caused by a dog bite there could be only two explanations - either Luna had bitten the officer of her own volition or on responding to his command, and the defendant had ruled out that first explanation himself.

Mr Doherty said: ‘She doesn’t bite, she would not bite. She doesn’t understand the command “bite”.

‘You shouted not just once but again and again and again. Why would you do that unless you were intending to a get as a reaction from Luna?’ Mr Robinson put to him.

‘I didn’t mean anything by it,’ the defendant replied.

He accepted he was drunk and that the two officers were simply doing their job. ‘I wasn’t threatening to attack them,’ he told the jury.

Mr Doherty claimed he had dragged the officers down the corridor after he was handcuffed as he had simply wanted to open the door to his partner.

He said the possibility of the officer’s injuries being caused by broken glass had never been investigated.

And he claimed he had been injured himself and left covered in blood during his arrest when his head hit the hallway door, causing the glass to break.

But the jury was told that the defendant had multiple previous convictions going back a decade for offences of violence including assaulting police officers as well as resisting arrest.

He has also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and two counts of failing to provide a breath test sample, offences for which he was being arrested when the officer was injured in July last year.

Luna the dog is currently in the care of the Manx SPCA.