The issue of double jeopardy has been highlighted repeatedly in Bermuda due to the case of murdered 17-year-old Becky Middleton. The fact that no one has been brought to justice for the slaying sparked negative publicity about Bermuda's judicial system both at home and abroad.

Now, Attorney General Kim Wilson plans to abolish the double jeopardy principle in some cases but the law will not be retroactive, so cannot be used to re-open the Middleton prosecution. Becky, from Canada, was raped and stabbed to death while on vacation in Bermuda in 1996.

Kirk Mundy — a Jamaican then aged 21 — and Justis Smith — a Bermudian then aged 19 — were arrested days later. Mundy was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact before forensic tests were complete, and was jailed for five years. When new evidence later came in allegedly linking him to the killing, the Privy Council rejected a bid by prosecutors to have him face a fresh charge of murder.

Meanwhile, the murder case against Smith was thrown out before a jury had chance to consider it by Judge Vincent Meerabux, who said there was no case to answer. The Privy Council later criticised him for this "surprising" and "perhaps astonishing" decision, saying there was strong circumstantial evidence.

Nonetheless, it ruled the decision could not be overturned and a retrial ordered because in Bermuda there is no right of appeal by the prosecution following a finding by a judge of 'no case to answer' on the facts. That will change in future for murder and manslaughter cases under the new proposals from Sen. Wilson, giving prosecutors greater rights of appeal.

During a judicial review of the Middleton case in 2007, family lawyer Cherie Booth QC called for Mundy and Smith to be retried on new charges of rape and torture. But Chief Justice Richard Ground said the case could not be reopened before the courts due to the double jeopardy rule.

The Bermuda Police Service has also cited double jeopardy as the reason why it will not review the case files using the cold case team and DNA database. Campaigners are now in the process of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.