Details of how police pursued Michael Ball emerged in court Thursday as the Crown called its final witness at his murder trial.

Sgt. Richard Dorling was of two officers to speak to Daniel Warwick in November 2013.

Jurors have heard that Warwick told Dorling and the other officer that Ball had told him he killed Erin Howlett.

Ball has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in connection with Howlett’s death. The two had been dating, but jurors have heard that their relationship was deteriorating prior to Howlett’s disappearance and death.

In a preliminary hearing before the trial and on the witness stand earlier this month, Warwick has also claimed that he helped Ball put Howlett’s body into a duffel bag and dump the bag into the Grand River.

Notes and recordings from Warwick’s 2013 interview with police do not mention any such assertions.

Warwick has testified that he chose not to tell police about those events because he didn’t want to face criminal charges – which he never has for anything to do with Howlett’s death.

Thursday, Dorling told the court why there was a gap of about 20 minutes in the audio recording of the police interview with Warwick.

He said the recorder was turned off at Warwick’s request, and that he spent the time before it was reactivated talking to Warwick.

He said the conversation “had an overall theme about him doing the right thing.”

When the recorder was turned back on, Warwick said that Ball had told him he killed Howlett.

Under cross-examination, Dorling was asked if he took any notes during the period of time when the recorder was off.

Dorling responded that he only wrote one sentence, which he read aloud in court.

“I spoke with Danny about his importance and the importance of the statement,” he said.

Defence lawyer Brennan Smart also brought up a phone call between Ball’s mother and Dorling, which occurred several days before Ball’s November 2013 arrest.

“Didn’t you tell Mrs. Ball ‘I’m going to arrest him for it’?” he asked.

“I believe so,” Dorling responded.

After that, Dorling agreed with Smart that police had staged a break-in at Ball’s apartment, leaving behind a note with the words “I know you did it. We have proof.”

With the Crown’s testimony complete, the trial is slated to resume Feb. 8.