Leicestershire Fire Service have released pictures of the dog rescue at Diamond Jubilee Wood near Ashby yesterday (Tuesday).

A fire crew from Coalville was among those who rescued a dog that has been trapped in a badgers' sett for more than 60 hours.

The alarm was raised shortly before noon when the sound of a dog in distress was heard at the woodland between Normanton Le Heath and Heather.

And these photos show the work that went on to free the animal.

Technical Rescue Appliances and one appliance from Coalville arrived at the scene along with the RSPCA, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service reported this afternoon.

A spokesperson for the county fire service said: "Call received from dog owner asking for help with a dog stuck down a badgers' sett for more than 60 hours.

"The RSPCA were in attendance.

"Crews were mobilised with specialist listening and locating devices.

"The sound of dog has been located and more resources have been requested to assist with digging to release the dog."

But the fire service later reported: "The dog has been located and rescued by Fire Service now in the hands of the owner and RSPCA.

"Badgers Sett believed to be non-active."

BBC East Midlands Today reported that the RSPCA said Winston disappeared into the sett on Saturday and his owners, Heather and Alex Peake from Newton Burgoland, spent hours calling for him.

The report added that badger setts are protected and it is advised a dog must be left for 48 hours before any action is taken.

A request then has to be made to Natural England for a licence to dig the dog out.

"The last few days had been awful," said Ms Peake.

"We felt so helpless knowing Winston was trapped. When the firefighters began searching we really thought we had already lost him and we were mentally preparing ourselves for the worst.

"I just burst into more tears when we finally saw his little face poking out of the mud."

The fire service said they were able to establish the dog's position using specialist listening and locating devices.

After nearly five hours, crews were able release to the dog by digging it out from the ground.

The fire service said the sett was not believed to be active.

RSPCA inspector Sue Haywood said: "The fire service did an amazing job carefully digging him out of the tunnel.

"The moment he was finally rescued was just brilliant - we were all just over the moon and despite his ordeal he was relatively unscathed."

Ms Peake said the three-year-old "miracle" dog was exhausted and in shock but was recovering well.