The scent has run cold for the future of bloodhound sniffer dogs in Essex.

Toni with her new pet, Sherlock

The county's police force has turned its nose up at the idea of using the breed to track offenders by odour after it claimed a three-year trial has left them with a whiff of failure.

For the past three years, Essex Police have been running the Home Office-funded Endeavour Project, experimenting with two bloodhound puppies Morse and Sherlock, and two German shepherd dog pups Scully and Reagan.

All four super sniffers were trained in the scent article method (Sam) of trailing suspects.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "This method uses the dogs' sense of smell to follow the distinctive odour of individuals, rather than the more traditional practice of police dogs tracking footsteps.

"However, as a result of thorough testing of these dogs using Sam and despite some early successes, it has been concluded that this method is not reliable or consistent enough to be used in operational police work."

Of the two hounds, one remains in service, after the death of Morse in October. Now Sherlock has been retired with author and former Essex County Newspapers journalist Toni Butcher, her husband Anthony and their bloodhound Jessica Fletcher on Mersea Island.

She said: "He is having a wonderful time. He is so happy and I love him to bits - and so does Jessica Fletcher. He's a great hound."

Reagan and Scully are accredited general purpose police dogs and will remain in service, using traditional tracking methods.

The decision will not affect operational commitments, according to Essex Police, who have 40 proven police tracker dogs trained in traditional methods.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable Joe Edwards said: "This was a worthwhile project, which demonstrated that Essex Police will always be prepared to try initiatives designed to explore ways of improving traditional policing methods, as part of our mission to make Essex safer."

Published Wednesday December 19, 2001