THE prosecution case against Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, who is accused of abducting, raping and killing Hannah Foster, has drawn to a close.

During the 20th day of the trial, which has seen more than 70 witnesses called, prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC completed his case with evidence from police officers.

They included the man in charge of the major inquiry into Hannah’s death in March 2003, Detective Superintendent Alan Betts.

He told jurors at Winchester Crown Court how the investigation, called Operation Springfield, had seen more than 400 officers and police staff drafted in to help solve Hannah’s murder.

Det Supt Betts described how there had been a large investigation which still had inquir-ies being made on it up until today – including work on in-formation received while the trial has been under way.

He said in the early days there was significant police activity including a large number of house-to-house inquir-ies in Portswood, Southamp-ton, where Hannah, 17, lived and was abducted; Southsea, where her bag and phone were recovered from a bottle bank, and Allington Lane, West End, where her body was found on March 16, 2003.

The court heard how calls from the public generated a vast amount of information that led to up to 50 lever arch files of information brought to the court to be used in the trial, but there was considerably more that was unused.

Det Supt Betts told jurors how he had travelled to India in September 2003 as part of the inquiry, visiting Kohli’s mother who at that time was in a coma-like state after an accident. The court had heard previously that Kohli had said his mother’s condition was the reason he had gone to his native country two days after Hannah’s body was recovered.

However, he was later found to be living some 791 miles away, having set up home and married another woman.

Barrister Abbas Lakha QC is set to begin his case for the defence later today.

Proceeding