For the father of murdered Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton, the weekend was a time of reflection, sadness and relief.

After spending a week in Bermuda giving evidence at the inquiry into the handling of serious crime, Dave Middleton flew out on Sunday unsure whether he would ever return to the Island again.

His close links with Bermuda were largely borne out of the horrific rape, torture and murder of his 17-year-old daughter four years ago.

He has spent weeks at a time here trying to piece together what went wrong and why neither of the two suspects were convicted of her murder.

But with the court cases well and truly finished and the public sessions of the inquiry over, Mr. Middleton said he felt maybe it was time to let go.

And during a visit to Ferry Reach on Saturday, where Rebecca was taken and brutally killed on July 3, 1996, he said he hoped the mistakes that were made in his daughter's case would never be made again.

Looking out over the ocean at Whalebone Bay in Ferry Reach, the father-of-three said: "I feel a mixture of emotions, but probably more than anything else I feel a great relief that it is over.

"I was at last allowed to have my say, but now I am ready to go home.

"I wished to make no recriminations for what happened to Becky, but I did want to come to Bermuda to put the family's side across in the hope that the system could be straightened out and made better.

"I feel a sense of closure in that there is nothing else scheduled to happen or take place.

"It is probably time to let go a little bit.'' While many parents in Mr. Middleton's situation would feel bitter and twisted, the water treatment superintendent from Belleville, Ontario, is far from it.

He has learnt to deal with the loss of his only daughter in the only way he knows - by thinking of the good things in her life, rather than the bad.

See also Editorial, Page 4 `Becky is not here', says Dave Middleton He and his two sons, Matt, 24, and Mark, 22, live their lives to the full, refusing to dwell on Becky's death, for they know that is not what she would have wanted.

They have a new pet dog in memory of her, named Buddy after one of Becky's most commonly-used buzz words, but for each of them, life goes on.

So returning to Ferry Reach was not as painful for Mr. Middelton as some would imagine.

"I don't think of the last five or 30 minutes of Becky's life - I think of all the good things that happened,'' said the 51-year-old.

"The way I look at it is that Becky was a joy to have, as were all of my kids.

"I had her for 17 years and I am very thankful for that.

"She was on vacation with her friend and having a wonderful time. She was happy.

"She experienced a lot in her life and she gave us a lot. We had a great time together and she had a great life. Although, it was cut far too short.

"And, as for Ferry Reach, this is just a very mechanical place where something happened. Becky is not here.'' Mr. Middleton described his daughter as very trusting and said she was very sociable and loved to be around other people.

He said desperate to get home from St. George's after three taxis had failed to materialise, on the night she died she will have trusted suspects Kirk Mundy and Justis Smith to get her home safely when they offered to give her a lift on board their bike. Tragically, she never made it.

However, a composed and thoughtful Mr. Middleton said despite her gentle nature and love of people, there would be no way Becky would have died without a fight.

And he said perhaps it was her resistance that led to her tragic end.

"Becky was trusting to the point that she would get on the bike,'' he said.

"We don't know what would have happened if those two boys had brought her here just to rape her and she had agreed and decided not to fight it.

"But the fact of the matter is that she resisted. I have no doubt that she will have booted one of them. She will have fought to the end.

"Neither Smith or Mundy were big people, but there was two of them against Becky and they had a knife.

"I don't think she (would) have given in at all, but when it came down to it, she didn't stand a chance.'' Mr. Middleton flew back to Belleville on Sunday where he said he could restore some normality back into his life again -at least as normal as any grieving parent can expect.

And although he said it was unlikely that he would ever come back to vacation in Bermuda, he did not think badly of the Island or its people.

On the contrary, he said he would never forget the support and friendship people had offered him here, the only thing to let him down was the judicial system.

"I have had so much support from the people here, they genuinely cared, and I will never forget that,'' he said.

"I think the people of Bermuda really felt that the system had let them down, too.

"What happened to Becky has cost the Island and its people dearly, not just in a financial sense or relating to tourism.

"People need to have their faith restored - that is why they should make sure the recommendations from the inquiry are put in place as soon as possible.

"Then, at least, some good will have come from all this.''