Crown prosecutor Patrick Doherty has confirmed that he has handed in his notice at the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

He is planning to leave the DPP's office at the end of December, two months before his contract expires.

Mr. Doherty will be the seventh experienced prosecutor to leave the DPP since the start of the year, leading to fears that the office is not only under-staffed, but that its prosecutors are lacking in experience.

Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo said last night that his department will be up to full strength in October, when two new prosecutors arrive from Jamaica and Barbados. Mr. Doherty will then be replaced in December. The 38-year-old Canadian, who is soon to be a father of three, refused to say why he was leaving or whether or not he was planning to return to his home in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, another senior Canadian law officer on the Island, Solicitor General William Pearce, is also leaving in December, one month before his contract expires at the Attorney General's Chambers. Mr. Doherty, who started working for the DPP almost three years ago, was coming to the end of his contract.

He said: "I can confirm that I have given my notice, but I am not prepared to comment publicly on my reasons for leaving.'' Mr. Doherty, who has about 14 years' experience, is the most experienced prosecutor at the DPP.

Since February this year seven people have either left or given their intention to leave.

In February Leighton Rochester left, followed by Peter Eccles in March, Veronica Daley in April, Sandra Bacchus and Brian Calhoun in June, Larry Mussenden in October and now Mr. Doherty. That means all of the Supreme Court prosecutors will have left the DPP by the end of this year.

Mr. Tokunbo has been on a recruitment drive around the world, and two prosecutors from the Caribbean will be starting work in Bermuda in October.

Mr. Tokunbo said last night that the DPP's office will be at full strength when the two new lawyers -- a principal Crown counsel from Barbados and a deputy Director of Public Prosecutions from Jamaica -- arrive in October.

He said Charlene Scott will be coming back to the DPP's office from Supreme Court where she has been registrar, and Mr. Mussenden will be replaced by Cindy Clark, who was a pupil until August.

Mr. Tokunbo said: "Mr. Doherty gave me personal reasons why he was leaving and he will be the only one that has to be replaced.

"We were in the process of having to re-advertise because his contract had six months to go before expiring.'' Mr. Pearce, who has been in Bermuda for three years, said last night that he was leaving in December to return home to British Columbia.

He said: "My contract was ending in mid-January and my wife and I decided we were going home before Christmas so we decided to go home a month earlier.''