DETECTIVES had no forensic evidence or murder weapon, but the motive of jealousy became clear as they conducted a painstaking inquiry.

And despite the lack of hard evidence, Louise Berry would be charged with murder in just five days.

A team of 60 officers, who operated from an incident room at Accrington police station, spoke to 308 people, obtained 298 statements, 370 exhibits and explored 539 lines of inquiry.

As they pieced together the jigsaw, a strong circumstantial case against Berry emerged.

But a conviction was far from a certainty. Some witnesses had been drunk at the time, while others needed to recall precise memories of seemingly incidental events that happened ten months earlier.

Two key witnesses were Andrew Hollern and Stephen Champ, but both men were reluctant to give evidence and had to be arrested to ensure they appeared at court.

Despite the problems, the case convinced the jury.

Det Supt Ian Jones, who was in charge of the case, said: "It has been 11 months and the verdict is a credit to the team of officers, mainly Eastern Division detectives, that have been been painstaking in their work supporting me. There were reluctant witnesses and people who did not want to co-operate, but for those who did, I am grateful they came to court and gave evidence."

On August 6, 2002, Mr Hollern, his cousin John, Mandy and Berry drank into the next day in the back yard of 125 Moorgate Street. Andrew and Mandy, according to Berry, were touching each other under their clothes and being flirtatious.

John said his cousin wanted to have sex with Mandy and is alleged to have taunted Berry, who attacked him with a crowbar.

Neighbour Lilian Swindlehurst watched the whole incident. She said: "I stood on the toilet seat and out of the bathroom window and could see into their yard. I heard shouting and swearing. I saw Louise going to hit the man. Louise went inside, came back and went towards Mandy and hit her.

"Mandy was shouting 'What did you do that for?' One of the lads got hold of her. It quietened down and I went back to bed. It was about 1.30am. They were not good neighbours."

Louise then made a tearful 999 call at 1.49am in which she said, chillingly, "I am going to kill my girlfriend." Police thought a drunken Berry was being over dramatic and took her to her grandma's in Bridgewater Court.

Several hours later, Berry went back to the house. What she saw deeply upset her.

Mandy and Andrew were in bed together, although they claimed nothing happened. Berry attempted to commit suicide with an overdose and was taken to hospital.

Tensions seemed to have continued over the next few days with Andrew Hollern still in Mandy's company.

On the night Mandy was attacked and throughout three police interviews over the next two days, Berry insisted she had left her lover at 8.30am that morning and returned to find her fatally injured.

However, police had witnesses who placed the couple together throughout the day at shops in the area and had CCTV footage of them in the nearby Spar at tea time.

In the face of overwhelming evidence, Berry volunteered a statement to police at 9.10am on August 13 admitting she had been with Mandy until 7pm on August 11. She claimed she had not told the full story in the hope of getting to Mandy's bedside quickly and that she was frightened people would "think it was her".

But Berry was still lying. She said she left Mandy with of Stephen Champ, an old friend of her partner, and that she suspected, at that time, he was the murderer.

Police interviewed Mr Champ and heard a different version of events. He said - and it was confirmed by witnesses - that he had left the couple together after falling out with a drunken Mandy, who was three-times over the drink-drive limit.

And officers found the love letters written by Berry, probably after the 'threat to kill' incident.

In the face of this evidence, Berry was charged with wounding on August 14. She made no reply. Later that day, Mandy died from her injuries and Berry was charged with murder on August 16, again saying nothing.

No one but 5ft11in Berry will know what prompted her anger to flare up and smash her 5ft2in lover's skull between 8.30pm and 9.20pm on August 11.

But it seemed clear that her inability to cope with her lover's alleged affair with Andrew Hollern was raging inside her.