THE detective leading the hunt for the killer of Southampton student Hannah Foster says he would support plans to open a British police station in India.

Home Secretary David Blunkett is said to be considering proposals to open a station in Kashmir, in the north of the country, in a bid to aid crime-busting in the UK.

The idea, mooted last week during a National Black Police Association conference in the West Midlands, is to save officers and police forces spending a fortune travelling to and from India while working on murder investigations and other crimes linked to Britain.

Detective superintendent Alan Betts has been to India twice in six months with colleagues on the trail of Hannah's suspected killer Maninder Pal Singh Kholi.

He said opening a station would help build relationships between the British and Indian police forces.

Det Supt Betts told the Daily Echo: "Personally I think it would be a benefit. There are no British police officers in India. I would support this because it would give much better liaison between the two countries. I could see there could be benefits and savings that could be made.

"It can only be beneficial having police officers there, certainly for building up relationships and getting to know how the system works."

He added: "The CBI and Interpol police in Delhi would probably support this too. It would be a point of contact for them."

Det Supt Betts, together with Det Con Gary Platt and PC Kim Ghali, made a second trip to New Delhi last month after receiving clearance from the Indian government to carry out inquiries for the case being prepared by the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK.