During the trial, defence counsel Peter Rawlinson cross-examined Hannam at length, opening large holes in his evidence on how the confession said to have been made by the accused was obtained.
At an early stage in the investigation, Hannam believed he had discovered Adams' modus operandi: first to make his victims drug addicts, then to influence them to change their wills in his favour and finally to give them a lethal dose of opiates.
Despite opposition from the BMA and claims of lack of cooperation by the DPP and the Eastbourne police, he produced a file of evidence which he considered was sufficient to charge Adams on four counts of murder.
The Attorney General entered the unprecedented[5] plea of nolle prosequi regarding Mrs Hullett rather than accepting a not guilty verdict.
Patrick Devlin, the trial judge, later termed this "an abuse of process", done because the prosecution’s case was deficient, which left Adams under the suspicion that there might have been some truth in talk of mass murder.