A MAN accused of having sex with a bull mastiff dog was today bailed to await trial at Gloucester crown court.

Nicholas Saunders, of Bell Lane, Lechlade, pleaded not guilty to having intercourse with an animal on 15th January this year.

The charge alleges that the 45-year-old 'intentionally performed an act of penetration of a living animal, namely a bull mastiff.

Prosecutor Lisa Hennessy said the defence is mounting a legal challenge to the admissability of an 'intimate sample' obtained by the police.

That issue would have to be resolved before a trial could be held, she said.

Judge William Hart ruled that the defence argument about inadmissability of the DNA sample should be filed by September 30 with a prosecution response by October 14.

The court would sit to decide the legal argument on the first available date after October 17 and the trial date would be fixed subsequently, the judge ruled.

Mrs Hennessy said she should also alert the court to the fact that the defence was seeking an 'expert report' and that there might therefore be two expert witnesses in the trial.

Saunders was bailed by Judge Hart with a condition that he does not contact three named prosecution witnesses.

"You will be told the date of the legal argument and then the date of any subsequent trial," said the judge.