POLICE have been forced to hand back a family’s beloved dogs after a court ruled they weren’t pitbulls.

Twins Shaun and Luke Dayus, aged 25, had their dogs seized by police under the Dangerous Dogs Act during raids last year.

Shaun Dayus, of Tiree Avenue, St Peter’s, Worcester, and his partner Clare Houdley, aged 22, denied possessing three fighting dogs – Nala, 8Ball and Bronson – and a charge of breeding fighting dogs.

Luke Dayus, of Swaledale Court, Warndon, and his partner Sarah Gaffney, 21, owners of a dog named Archie, denied possessing one fighting dog .

As previously reported, 15 dogs, including nine puppies, were taken from four homes by specialist officers last July.

Two puppies were put down, four were retained by police and the rest were returned to their owners.

During a three-day trial, Worcester Magistrates Court heard from a number of experts who carried out a range of monitoring tests to see if the dogs, bred from Staffordshire bull terriers, were of the pitbull-type.

Trevor Turner, a former chief veterinary officer for the Crufts show, said he would expect a pitbull-type to score 65-70 per cent on his own scoring system. All four dogs scored under 60 per cent.

In his closing speech, Mark Soper, prosecuting, said the bench were not being asked to deem whether or not the dogs were dangerous but to decide if they were pitbull-type. He said: “If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck – it’s not a penguin.”

Magistrates said they were satisfied with Mr Turner’s assessment and ruled none of the dogs had “substantial” pitbull charactieristics. All four defendants were found not guilty. If the bench decided they were pitbull-type, the dogs would have been returned with strict muzzling conditions. The prosecution had not sought to destroy the dogs as they showed no violence towards people.

Shaun Dayus, a dad-of-five, burst into tears when the verdicts were delivered. He said: “It’s amazing. I couldn’t wait to see my babies again. This has been dragging on for 11 months and has cost me a lot of money which was going to go on a play house for the kids. When I get the money back we’re going to have a new play house and a new kennel. I just couldn’t wait to see them to give them a kiss and a cuddle.”

Luke Dayus, who was also overcome with emotion, said: “I’m really happy to get my family back together. It’s been an ordeal but I’m glad it’s all over now.”