A businessman told yesterday how failure to secure the conviction of Rebecca Middlton's murderers had led to a lack of credibility in the judicial system and the Police.

Thomas Gallagher, a member of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and a partner in a firm of management consultants, said the fiasco of the Middleton case had left people believing there was a serious problem with safety and security in the community.

He said: "The lack of a successful prosecution of this crime by the then Attorney General's office has obviously raised serious questions as to the capability of our judicial system as to how such serious crimes are investigated and prosecuted.

"The loss of this young woman's life is in and of itself a great tragedy, but the greater tragedy is that not only has justice not been seen to be served, but that because of the ineptness of our judicial system at that time, no one will ever be brought to justice for this heinous crime and, for that matter, no one appears to have been held accountable for how this could have occurred.'' Mr. Gallagher, who is also president of Flanagan's Irish pub on Front Street, was giving his testimony during the fourth day of the probe into the handling of serious crimes on the Island.

He said he did not want to be negative towards the Police, but felt they were too understaffed and lacking in resources to be truly successful.

However, he also said the family, church and school played a major part in the behaviour of youngsters and said too many people no longer disciplined children or held the same moral values.

There were too many "children having children'' and too few family units to provide youngsters, especially boys, with good role models and the desire to do better.

He added: "We see an erosion of moral and acceptable behavioural standards throughout our community.

"We see declining standards in the public educational system and the failure to provide a sound foundation for life for a significant proportion of our young people.'' And he went on: "It has been my opinion that for too long there appears to have been a philosophy in previous Government administrations that as long as the drug dealing and violent crimes are taking place in the lesser privileged areas of Bermuda, such as the back of town, then there has been a tacit acceptance that as long as it doesn't affect Front Street and the broader community, why deal with it.

"Is the Police crime intelligence so lacking that they don't know where the drugs are being dealt? I think not.'' He also said too many people appeared to be charged for committing crimes, but failed to be convicted, which led the community to feel disheartened.

He said he believed Government did want to clean up Bermuda, but it needed to put additional resources in to make it work.

And he said people should forget the issue of race and begin to not only work with each other, but play with each other as well.

But most of all, he said he was pleased the Commission of Inquiry into serious crime was being held, but hoped it came to good use.

Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay, who came to the Island in January 1997, took to the stand yesterday afternoon. During his opening statement, he explained how the force was run, the procedures in place and inspections that had been done during the 90s.

He admitted that not all of the recommendations made during the inspections had been carried out.

But he said out of an inspection carried out in 1997, only two recommendations had not yet been implemented - one of those recommendations, the adoption of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, was labelled a priority.

Under questioning from barrister Richard Hector, who is presenting the evidence in the hearing, Mr. Lemay said both recommendations were in hand.

He added: "If we could move this issue forward it would not only be beneficial to the Police, but to Bermuda as a whole.'' Mr. Lemay talked about the difficulty in recruiting local officers and said he needed greater support from the community.

MURDER MUR CRIME CRM