people's civil rights as they investigated the death of Rebecca Middleton.

Last week lawyer Archie Warner claimed that Police were infringing people's civil liberties as they carried out investigations into the Canadian visitor's death.

He alleged that blood samples were taken from people illegally and that some young black men were taken in for questioning because they were light skinned.

Police originally issued a description of the people they were looking for in connection with the girl's death, saying one was lighter skinned than the other.

Police Commissioner Colin Coxall emphatically denied that anyone was forced to take a blood test.

"Statements made last week by a member of the legal profession may have given members of the public the impression that a number of young black men were improperly forced to take blood tests during the enquiry into the murder of Rebecca Middleton,'' he said.

"This is most emphatically not true. Seventeen young black males were tested and eliminated from the investigation, but none of them were forced to take a test.'' Mr. Coxall said the reason Police concentrated on young black males was because witnesses said Ms Middleton had left St. George's in the company of two young black men.

"There were quite a lot of young black men who had been in St. George's that night. Some could be eliminated from our enquiries in ways that did not involve a blood test, but some could not,'' added the Commissioner.

"Those latter individuals were asked to take tests in order to allow us to prove they had not been involved in the death.

"This is standard procedure in a Police investigation. There was nothing unusual about it.'' Ms Middleton's body was discovered in the early hours of Wednesday, July 3, on Ferry Road.

On Saturday Justis Raham Smith, 17, and Kirk Orlando Mundy, 21, appeared in court charged in connection with her murder. They are due to reappear in Magistrates' Court on July 25.