GREAT Yarmouth has launched one of its biggest ever crackdowns on dirty dog owners as the resort gears up for an influx of summer visitors.It comes after a spate of prosecutions - four people convicted of failing to clear up after their dogs by magistrates in Great Yarmouth on Friday all face fines and costs.

GREAT Yarmouth has launched one of its biggest ever crackdowns on dirty dog owners as the resort gears up for an influx of summer visitors.

It comes after a spate of prosecutions - four people convicted of failing to clear up after their dogs by magistrates in Great Yarmouth on Friday all face fines and costs. Another man from the borough is due to appear on June 11 for dog fouling.

Borough council leader Barry Coleman welcomed the prosecutions and said he hoped they would send a zero-tolerance message to non-scooping owners.

He praised the council's senior environmental ranger Paul Shucksmith for his work in bringing the prosecutions, adding: “I am very pleased that we have got four prosecutions because it is not easy to get people to court.

“I think Paul has done a really good job there and I think it will send out the message to people that this is not acceptable.”

Mr Shucksmith said: “Residents right across the borough have told us they simply do not want to have to accept people not clearing up after their dogs.

“Yarmouth Borough Council will always look to prosecute if we get relevant information about offenders, as not clearing up after your dog is not only antisocial but could also be potentially hazardous to young children.”

Gorleston youth football team has set up a group on social networking site Facebook calling for action over dog fouling on Southtown Common.

The Yarmouth residents - Anthony Pugh, Garnet Nicholls, Gary Millet and Joan Hennison - were handed fines for the offences which happened in February and March.

Pugh, of Apsley Road, admitted failing to clear up after his Siberian husky had left mess in St George's Park on February 11.

Borough council solicitor Charlotte Lockwood said a ranger from the council's environmental health team had watched as he failed to clear his dog's poo before leaving with his pet in the direction of Crown Road.

Ms Lockwood said the ranger approached Pugh in Crown Road and he admitted he had failed to clear up.

In mitigation Pugh, representing himself, said he told the ranger he was then going back to clear the mess up.

He added his dog had been constipated and had only left behind a small amount of poo.

“My wife said the dog had got blood coming from its backside so I rang the vets who told me the dog had probably had to release because it would have overstretched its bowel capacity,” Pugh said.

He was fined �60 and ordered to pay a �15 victim surcharge, to help the victims of crime.

Nicholls, of Bure Close, Yarmouth was caught by an environmental health ranger after his black and white cocker spaniel had left two lots of dog poo at the North Drive end of Yarmouth beach close to the promenade wall.

Ms Lockwood said the defendant had allowed his pet to roam free on the beach after getting out of his car at 8.50am on March 17.

The ranger then approached Nicholls to warn him that failing to clear up the dog mess was an offence.

Nicholls, who pleaded guilty, represented himself and said in mitigation he was not thinking properly as he was caring for his mother at the time who had suffered a series of strokes.

“I was worried about my mother and I wanted to be back within half an hour. She did pass away a few days after that and that was the reason. I was walking along with my head in the clouds not really thinking about what the dog had done,” he said.

He was fined �60 and ordered to pay a �15 victim surcharge.

Millet, of Clarendon Close, Yarmouth did not appear in court to hear charges he had failed to clear up mess left by his two brown and white dogs close to Lucas and Wyllys solicitors in Hall Plain, on March 17.

Like the previous two defendants, he was spotted by an environmental ranger.

Ms Lockwood said Millet's response was he was walking the dogs for his cousin and was heading home to collect bags to clear up the mess, adding that the dogs did not normally leave a mess.

Millet was fined �100, ordered to pay �70 costs and the �15 victims' surcharge.

Hennison, of Granville Road, Yarmouth was caught after her pet left poo in Century Road, Yarmouth on March 2. The ranger watched her from her van before approaching her to ask why she had not cleared the faeces up, to which Hennison replied her dog was likely to leave dog mess again and she would clear that up.

Hennison was fined �100, ordered to pay �70 and the �15 victims' surcharge.