Police will jet off to America in a bid to become experts at using mobile phones to crack crime.

Two officers from Sussex Police’s hi-tech crime unit will head to Chicago later this month.

Sussex Police said the £7,000 cost to send the officers on the course was justified to stay at the forefront of technology, as new phone software is developed all the time.

Mobile phones have already been used to crack major cases in Sussex.

Evidence from mobile phones helped convict Sean Iran of the murder of Stefan Welch last March.

Mr Welch’s torched body was abandoned on The Dyke golf course, on the outskirts of Brighton, in September 2010.

Police were able to prove Iran’s movements through his phone and show where he had been around the time of Mr Welch’s death.

In the case of Neale James, a jury heard details of text messages he sent to his mother Brenda before he killed her and dumped her body on the Goodwood estate.

Detective Chief Inspector Carwyn Hughes, of Sussex Police’s crime and justice department, said: “It is important that we remain at the cutting edge of lawful techniques to help investigate all forms of crime.

"Mobile phones are now mini-computers with much of the software technology originating from the Unites States, and we are determined that our specialist staff should have a full appreciation of emerging software, to defeat criminals using mobile phones as part of their criminal activity.”