A DETECTIVE has spoken of the moment he received a call naming Maninder Pal Singh Kohli as a prime suspect for the murder of Hannah Foster.
Giving evidence at Winchester Crown Court Detective Constable Philip Crossland, who was based at Shirley CID in March 2003, took a call from James Dennis naming one of his employees who worked at Hazelwood Foods in Empress Road Southampton.
Mr Crossland, referring to notes he took at the time, said: "He was calling about an Asian man called Maninder Pal Singh of Broadlands Road, in Portswood."
Defence barrister Abbas Lakha QC said to DC Crossland: "He told you that he believed that the man was now in India."
He added that Kohli's wife had told Mr Dennis her husband was now in India.
Jurors heard how DC Crossland then went to Hazelwood Foods where he seized a Ford Transit refrigerated van which was subsequently loaded onto a lorry and taken away.
The court had already heard in an opening speech from prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC how the phone call from Mr Dennis came on the day after a nationwide appeal about Hannah's alleged rape and murder was aired on BBC Crimewatch on March 26, 2003.
The body of 17-year-old Hannah Foster was discovered at the side of Allington Lane, West End, on March 16, 2003.
Kohli, 40, denies charges of murder, rape, abduction and false imprisonment.
Proceeding
