POLICE tracked alleged murderer Maninder Pal Singh Kohli's journey through Hampshire using high tech surveillance and mobile phone records, a court heard this afternoon.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court was told how Kohli drove from Southampton to Portsmouth on the morning after the alleged murder.

Prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC told the jury that Kohli was on his sandwich delivery round and that CCTV, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and mobile phone records allowed his journey to be traced by police investigators.

Mr Haggan said: “ANPR captured Kohli’s vehicle on the M27 at 06.21, 06.23, 06.26 as it moved eastwards.”

He added that on the morning after Hannah disappeared Hannah’s mum Hilary telephoned her mobile phone at 6.30am.

Analysis of records showed that Hannah’s phone was on the M275 in Portsmouth when the call was made, almost exactly the same place as Kohli’s van.

The prosecutor said that four times calls were made either to or from Hannah’s phone when it was in Kohli’s van: First, the 999 call at 11pm on the Friday night; at 5.28am on Saturday when Mrs Foster sent a text message to Hannah; her phone call at 6.30am and then an Orange text message when the call was unanswered.

CCTV in Portsmouth traced Kohli’s journey through the city before he allegedly dropped Hannah’s handbag and mobile phone in a recycling bin in Southsea, Portsmouth.

The evidence was heard as the case against Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was opened. He is accused of the abduction, false imprisionment, rape and murder of Hannah, 17, in March 2003.

The 40-year-old of no fixed abode denies the charges.