A woman lobbying for a new inquiry into the botched investigation and trial of the Rebecca Middleton murder is to meet with Deputy Governor Tim Gurney on Friday.

LeYoni Junos, who has now collected more than 3,000 signatures on her petition calling for a new inquiry, said she wanted to meet with Mr. Gurney to ask him questions about the month-long review of serious crime last year, which she claims left gaping holes in the Middleton case.

And she said she plans to continue collecting signatures in the hope that the authorities can be persuaded to hold a second inquiry - this time solely on the handling of the Middleton case.

Ms Junos said: "I am asking for an inquiry into the Middleton case, as well as an inquiry into the evidence that was given by the former Attorney General (Elliott Mottley) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (Khamisi Tokunbo).

"I'm very pleased to have got this appointment with Mr. Gurney. I'm appealing to the Governor for another inquiry and I have questions that I want to ask."

Ms Junos said she was delighted to have obtained so many signatures so far.

She added: "I think 3,000 is five percent of the population, but I would like to double that. There is no one saying we have to have `x' number of signatures, but I would like to give people an opportunity to sign.

"Due to my travel plans, starting a new job and then September 11, the petition was pushed back a bit, but I think now we can begin to get more signatures again.

"I would like to organise something where we can collect signatures, such as at supermarkets or on the streets, where people can simply sign the form and get on with whatever they were doing.

"But I have been encouraged so far because most of the signatures I have received have come in the post where people have taken the initiative to get forms and get people to sign them themselves."

Canadian Rebecca Middleton, 17, was raped, tortured and stabbed to death at Ferry Reach while on holiday in Bermuda in July 1996.

To date, no one has been convicted of her murder.

Two men were arrested soon after in connection with her killing, Justis Smith and Kirk Mundy.

Mundy pleaded guilty to the charge of accessory after the fact, claiming that he had had consensual sex with Becky but then came back moments later to find his friend stabbing her.

However, his plea was accepted by prosecutors before DNA and forensic evidence had been returned. Experts were also later to claim that it was likely Becky had been raped and that two people had killed her - one person to hold her down while the other inflicted the wounds.

Smith was charged with murder and went on trial, but was acquitted after Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux deemed there to be insufficient evidence for it to go to the jury. That decision was later labelled "astonishing" by the Privy Council.

During the inquiry last year, which was the result of a public outcry over the handling of the case, the commissioners were given the brief to look at serious crime as a whole, rather than Becky's case alone.

However, Bermuda saw fingers pointed in every direction as witnesses at the inquiry, including senior Police officers, prosecutors and Mr. Mottley refused to take the blame for any failures in the investigation and prosecution.

Ms Junos said she had major issues with the way the Police and prosecutors automatically believed Mundy when he said he had had consensual sex with Becky, despite the fact that she had scores of knife and torture wounds all over her body.

This was another matter she wanted addressed, she said.

Mr. Gurney said last night: "I'm looking forward to meeting with Ms Junos and discussing her concerns. I cannot at this stage comment on any particular outcome at the moment."