A SINGLE phone call sparked an £800,000 police operation into the gang torture murder of a Cheshire market trader.

And the bill for the investigation into the brutal killing of Brian Waters could rise still further with one suspect - Lymm's Christopher Guest More - still on the run.

Detectives are still hunting More, who is believed to have fled to Marbella shortly after the June 2003 murder at Burnt House Farm, Tabley.

His father, also called Christopher More, was jailed for six months at Chester Crown Court in October 2004 for delivering a suitcase containing £2,000 to Spain, a week after the barbaric crime.

Investigations into the murder of 44-year-old Mr Waters swallowed up Cheshire Police's budget for major crime incidents for the entire year, it has been revealed.

Murder squad detectives eventually saw three men - James Raven, Otis Matthews and John Wilson - convicted of Mr Waters' horrific murder and they were jailed for life.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: "The total cost of the operation, not including the salaries, was £800,000.

"The major crime contingency for the year was £500,000 - which was effectively wiped out by one crime."

As revealed during the Chester Crown Court murder trial last year, mobile phone records played a crucial role in the case, establishing links between the defendants in the run-up to the killing.

Police were forced to check out 4,000 different numbers to obtain the evidence which helped to convict Raven, Matthews and Wilson.

Forensic experts had to minutely examine 80 separate scenes - one took three weeks to thoroughly investigate.

Mr Waters and fellow victim Suleman Razak were systematically tortured in a farm barn.

A post mortem revealed Mr Waters suffered 123 separate injuries, was used as a human punch bag, had acid dripped on his back and was attacked with metal bars and garden canes. Mr Razak survived to give evidence against his captors.