The family of murdered Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton hope legal proceedings today will result in fresh charges against the suspects in their daughter’s killing.

Top lawyer Cherie Booth QC — wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair — will represent them in asking Bermuda’s Chief Justice to quash a prosecutor’s decision not to reopen the case.

No-one has ever been convicted of murdering the 17-year-old, who was raped and stabbed to death while on vacation in Bermuda in 1996.

Today, Ms Booth will attempt, through a Supreme Court judicial review, to persuade Chief Justice Richard Ground that the case should be re-opened and fresh charges pressed against the men originally accused of killing Rebecca.

If she is successful, it is unlikely the Island’s top judge would order Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen to do so, but she would have to reconsider the position she took a year ago.

Rebecca’s father Dave Middleton, who has travelled to Bermuda for the hearing, said: “I know this is a step along the way but I’m very hopeful it’s going to go in our favour. What we want is to get the punishment that goes with the crime.”

Kelvin Hastings-Smith, from Mr. Middleton’s legal team said: “There is a misconception that this is a criminal trial and somehow a wrong is going to be put right, but it is the first step in a process that may lead to possible criminal charges being laid.

“Our line is that the decision of the DPP not to reopen the case was unlawful, was wrong, and that possibly anyone reviewing it would not have come to the same decision.”

The teenager known to family and friends as ‘Becky,’ was murdered at a remote spot at Ferry Reach, St. George’s, in July 1996 while on vacation from Belleville, Ontario.

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 appeal court rejected a bid by prosecutors to have him face a fresh charge of murder.

Meanwhile, the murder case against Smith was thrown out before the trial jury had chance to consider it by Judge Vincent Meerabux, who said there was no case to answer. The Privy Council criticised him for this decision, saying there was strong circumstantial evidence Mundy and Smith were involved in the killing that could have gone to a jury. Nonetheless, it ruled that the decision could not be overturned.

The Middleton family has campaigned ever since to get a conviction in the case. Although Bermuda’s laws ban someone from being tried twice for murder, they argue that fresh charges of serious sexual assault, torture or kidnap could be considered.

Dave Middleton asked Mrs. Graham-Allen to consider this, but she rejected the bid saying the law also prevents someone being tried for different offences arising out of the same of facts.

The two-day judicial review will see this decision challenged by Ms Booth and a team from Bermuda law firm Appleby.

“Just because there was a bump in the system doesn’t mean you walk away from it,” said Mr. Middleton, who faces a $100,000 legal bill for the two day Supreme Court hearing. “I don’t believe the people who created this situation should be out walking around.”

Given the history of the case, he is naturally cautious about what could be achieved through the judicial review.

“I’m a little wary of people that tell us it’s a straightforward slam dunk,” he said, but added: “We’re feeling very hopeful we’re getting towards the end of the road in terms of getting the legal system to kick in.”

Justice for Becky — that’s all we want