The Attorney General has been asked to consider a new law reform that would enable prosecutors to appeal if judges acquitted defendants on a point of fact.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt has written to Dame Lois Browne-Evans to ask her to consider the amendment to the Court of Appeal Act 1964, which was also one of the main recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into serious crime in 2000.

Mr. Barritt said he hoped the change in law would be permitted so as to afford prosecutors the same rights as defence attorneys.

Mr. Barritt was behind a failed bid for a change in legislation earlier this year when he asked the House of Assembly to support his motion to enable prosecutors to try people more than once for the same serious offence if new and compelling evidence came to light.

At present in Bermuda, a person can only be tried once - known as the double jeopardy rule.

And he also asked them to reconsider the law on a prosecutor's right to appeal an acquittal on a point of mixed fact and law.

Although the issue split the governing Progressive Labour Party, the United Bermuda Party lost the motion by 16 votes to 13. But now Mr. Barritt said he hoped to move some way towards reforming the law by suggesting that prosecutors at least be given the right to appeal acquittals that are made on points of mixed fact and law.

He said that would in no way mean that the double jeopardy rule would be altered, and the Police and prosecution would not be able to bring someone back to court for a second or third trial.

But Mr. Barritt said it was "a start".

He added: "I was prompted to take up the issue again for two reasons.

"I was encouraged by the remarks of the Government backbenchers, some of whom voted with us and some of whom abstained. I thought it was worthwhile pursuing it, and my colleagues thought so, too.

But Mr. Barritt said he also wanted to take up the invitation from the Attorney General during the debate on double jeopardy, which was to make suggestions to her in writing first, so the Law Reform Committee could consider them, rather than to go straight ahead and table a motion in the House.

So he did just that with his latest recommendation about a month ago.

Mr. Barritt said this recommendation may be more favourable to MPs who voiced concern that changing the double jeopardy rule would lead to Police and prosecutors repeatedly hounding acquitted defendants until they eventually got a result. And in his letter to Dame Lois, which was copied to the president of the Bermuda Bar Association Trevor Moniz for a response, Mr. Barritt said he hoped the issue could be brought before the House in the near future.

"It's a straightforward amendment. We have had the debate in the House of Assembly. I thought it was encouraging, notwithstanding the vote, which was close."

Prosecutors, at present, have no recourse if a judge is believed to have wrongly acquitted someone based on the weight of the facts of a case. They can only appeal on a point of law.

And it was the bungled Rebecca Middleton case that led to the Serious Crimes Commission in 2000, and which ultimately resulted in almost 60 recommendations being made to Police, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General.

The first recommendation to the Attorney General was that the widest possible consultation be undertaken on whether there ought to be an amendment to the Court of Appeal Act to permit prosecutors to appeal an acquittal that was based on mixed law and fact. As yet, that has not been done.

Last night, The Royal Gazette was unable to reach the Attorney General for comment.

However, the Bar Association's Mr. Moniz said the issue was discussed at the last meeting in June, and a sub-committee had been set up to look into the matter in more depth.

It is expected to be discussed at the July meeting next week.

But Mr. Moniz said as the association contained a number of defence lawyers, the opinions within may be wide-reaching, as they were on the issue of double jeopardy.

One lawyer, who did not wish to be named, agreed that Bermuda did not have to change the double jeopardy rule in order to close the loophole on questionable acquittals.

He said: "For those that are opposed to the double jeopardy rule, you don't have to go that far.

"You can consider it as step one and step two. Double jeopardy would be step one, but enabling prosecutors to appeal acquittals based on fact and law would be step two.

"For those afraid that the Police will hound suspects in order to get a conviction, then they can simply go for step two. Double jeopardy does not have to come into it. At least you then have some comeback against doubtful acquittals."