A prosecution lawyer has suggested a Canadian charged with theft "muddied'' his tracks after he was fired. Crown counsel Peter Eccles made the accusation yesterday in the ongoing trial of 49-year-old Colin Clive Andrew Cave.

Cave, represented by lawyer Mark Pettingill, denies Supreme Court charges of stealing more than $54,000 from Davison's of Bermuda. He also denies separate charges of false accounting.

During cross-examination, Mr. Eccles suggested the former chartered accountant had deliberately tailored his story.

Cave has maintained that financial records used to implicate him are incomplete.

He told the jury that investigating Police officers may not have conducted a thorough search or may only have looked for records they were told existed.

And he has refuted many of the testimonies of prosecution witnesses.

Cave claimed he wrote and sent letters to Davison's managing director and president Norman Davison to explain why he had removed $25,000 of company money.

But Mr. Eccles questioned why Cave had never raised the various discrepancies while prosecution witnesses were in court.