Attorney General Larry Mussenden last night defended the way the Bermuda justice system handled the Rebecca Middleton case.

Speaking in the Senate, he said: ?The result might not have been what everybody wanted, but the system was used and the system worked.?

He also hit back at Canadian criticism of the compensation handed to the Middleton family by Bermuda Government, saying the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board could only do what the law allowed.

And he said that people ?crying out? for the case to be re-opened should look at the recent review of the case by Department of Public Prosecutions director Vinette Graham Allen. ?She?s made a decision,? he stated. Sen. Mussenden was responding to criticism of the justice system by Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan.

Referring to a raft of tougher sex offence sentences that had just been passed by the Upper House yesterday, he said: ?We can look at penalties for people that commit a sex act and up it to five and ten years, and yet we can?t get the resolve to bring this back (the Middleton case) and show the world that justice can be served or we are prepared to see it through.?

Campaigners fighting for justice for the murdered Canadian teenager maintain fresh charges of serious sexual assault could still be brought. Ten years on from her brutal death at Ferry Reach, nobody has been convicted of her murder.

Sen. Swan mentioned improvements in modern forensics before apparently throw his support behind calls for the case to be re-visited.

Responding, Sen. Mussenden said he was ?hoping he would not be drawn into this? but added: ?I can?t stand by and have him (Sen.Swan) say the justice system did not work in this matter.?

The Government Senate leader said that everyone in Bermuda was ?outraged? by the Middleton murder in July 1996. ?It should never have happened,? he said. ?But once it had happened, the criminal justice system kicked into action. The result might not have been what everyone wanted, but the system was used and the system worked.?

Critics of the investigation have hit out at the decision to charge one of the two suspects as an accessory, splitting the murder indictment.

Sen. Mussenden, briefly referring to the charging process, said: ?There were charges that were considered by the DPP at the time and decisions were made.?

He added that the case went to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the highest appeal court for Bermuda, the Privy Council. ?The Privy Council ruled on the case and it was final,? he told Senators.

He also defended Government?s decision to award the Middleton family just under $3,000 in compensation for suffering.

Sen. Mussenden said criticism was understandable ? and he said the pain and trauma the family must have gone through after the murder was unimaginable. He said a small amount of money was paid, but said the compensation board could only do what the law allowed.