Three and a half years after the savage murder of Canadian schoolgirl Rebecca Middleton, the Privy Council on London yesterday closed the door on Justis Smith standing trial again for the killing.

Miss Middleton's father David said his family had been badly let down by the Island's legal system and urged Bermudians to call for a public inquiry into the handling of the case.

He said it was time for the unanswered questions about the case to be fully examined.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions William Pearce said he will be recommending a change in the law because he believes the Privy Council decision ties the hands of the Crown when it tries to overturn alleged miscarriages of justice.

Mr. Middleton said his family accepted it had reached the end of the road in terms of a criminal trial, and he held out little hope of taking civil action against Mr. Smith, or Kirk Orlando Mundy, who was jailed for five years in 1996 when he pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

Mr. Smith refused to comment yesterday, but his barrister Elizabeth Christopher said the 21-year-old just wanted a chance to get on with his life.

Miss Middleton, 17, was tortured, raped and stabbed to death in Ferry Reach on July 3, 1996.

Fifteen months after Mundy pleaded guilty, the Crown tried to get him indicted on a joint murder charge with Mr. Smith after forensic evidence revealed two men were involved.

Mundy's semen was found inside the dead woman, but the Court of Appeal refused a Crown application to have him stand trial for murder.

In November, 1998, Mr. Smith stood trial alone charged with murder, but in December Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux acquitted him, ruling there had been an abuse of process and there was no case to answer.

The move caused uproar among Miss Middleton's family in Belleville, Ontario, and led to Canadians boycotting Bermuda.

In a further twist, the Crown persuaded the Court of Appeal that Mr. Justice Meerabux's ruling should be overturned and that Mr. Smith should be retried for murder.

The final legal scenes were played out in London last month when Mr. Smith's lawyers sought to convince the five Privy Councillors that the acquittal should be reinstated.

The judges ruled yesterday that the Crown did not have the right to appeal on matters of "mixed law and fact'' but only on matters of law. The acquittal stands and Mr. Smith cannot be retried for the murder.

Mr. Middleton told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "I am really disappointed.

This is the end of the road as far as criminal proceedings are concerned.

"Now the trial part is over with, we are left with the facts about what happened to Becky and who did it. One guy gets a plea bargain and gets five years. That's a pretty poor reflection on the legal system if that's the best you can do.'' He said an inquiry was needed to find out why Mundy was given bail for armed robbery, during which time, by his own admission, he was an accessory after the fact in Miss Middleton's murder.

And he wants to know why Mundy, a "known bad guy'' was allowed to cut a deal to plead guilty, and why the Crown accepted the plea before DNA testing was done at the scene.

DNA testing later revealed that Mundy's semen was inside the murdered girl.

He said: "Now there is no question of jeopardising the jury, let's answer some of the questions that were never answered.

"I think there should be a public inquiry, but I'm a Canadian, not a Bermudian.

"I am the parent of the victim, but it would be nice if people in Bermuda were saying they were disappointed in their system and they want an investigation. If they don't say anything, I might say something.'' Acting DPP Mr. Pearce said: "We are obviously very disappointed at the result. We are also disappointed at the precedent it sets because it is a marked departure from the law as it's been understood for some time in Bermuda.

See Editorial, Page4 Middleton appeal rejected "It severely restricts the Crown's right of appeal to pure questions of law, the result being that even if we are appealing on a question of law that involves any assessment of evidence, it appears now that this would be characterised as mixed fact and law and would not fall within the pure question of law alone provision.

"I am going to be recommending strongly to the Attorney General that we amend the Appeal Court Act so that we can restore our traditional right of appeal on grounds of mixed fact and law if something goes amiss and there is a miscarriage of justice.

"In this case, the Privy Council found strong circumstantial evidence to implicate Smith in the murder and found the judge's ruling `surprising' and `astonishing'.

"They are saying, in effect, that even if a judge makes a wrong decision and even if it is clearly a wrong decision, the Crown can't appeal unless it is an undistilled question of law, and it severely restricts our ability to correct miscarriages of justice.

"My first reaction and thoughts were for the Middeleton family and I tried to contact them, but without success, because they are going to be greatly distraught at the outcome "But at least they will have the feeling and understanding that we did everything we could to bring justice to bear on this tragic case. It's small comfort, but it's all we can say at this moment.'' He added: "Following the trial decision there was a call for a public inquiry, and I'm not going to make any comment in respect to that at all.'' Ms Christopher said yesterday: "We are very happy that this has happened although it wasn't unexpected from our side. Hopefully Mr. Smith will now be given the opportunity to get on with his life.

"He was 17 when this happened and he spent the next two and a half years in prison and hopefully people will give him the opportunity to get on with it.

"The legislation says the Crown can appeal on questions of law alone. This doesn't change the law at all, it simply affirms what the position has been all along.

"Clearly the sympathy of Mr. Smith and the defence team is with the Middleton family, but it is not through the fault of Justis Smith...the way it's come out.'' Rebecca Middleton MURDER MUR