The father of murdered teenager Rebecca Middleton and the Canadian authorities are likely to receive a copy of the commissioner's report into serious crime on the Island before it goes public.

Acting Governor Tim Gurney said last night that he had recommended that both Mr. Middleton receive a draft of the 80-page document, along with the Canadian Consulate General.

The commissioners, who carried out a six-week study of the investigation and prosecution of crime in Bermuda, handed in their findings last Friday, including more than 62 recommendations for improvement.

A total of 42 of them were aimed at the Police.

Mr. Gurney said it was Governor Thorold Masefield's intention at this stage to release the report to the public, but senior officials involved in the inquiry will receive it first.

Governor Masefield is due back from holiday this weekend and will be given the report to digest. It is not expected to be made public until the beginning to middle of October.

However, it is not expected to go into great detail about the botched investigation in the murder of 17-year-old Rebecca in July 1996, as the commissioners were not mandated to look solely into that matter. Their inquiry was based on the handling of serious crime in general.

Although, it is thought to refer to elements of the Middleton case.

Mr. Gurney would not discuss any detail of the report but said: "I have read the report with interest, but we do not want to release any details of it as yet.

"The intention is to release it to the public, but a definite decision on that has yet to be made by the Governor.

"Senior officials who have been involved in the inquiry should be given a copy first. I have also recommended to the Governor that, I think out of courtesy, that Mr. Middleton and the Canadian Consulate General should be sent copies.

"There is no section headed the Middleton inquiry, but the report does include reference to the Middleton inquiry and prosecution, as it played a role in the inquiry.'' Rebecca was raped, tortured and stabbed to death in Ferry Reach while on holiday with her friend Jasmine Meens.

Two people, Justis Smith and Kirk Mundy, were arrested in connection with her murder.

Kirk Mundy was charged by prosecutors with accessory after the fact after pointing the finger of blame at his friend, despite the fact that he was on bail for armed robbery and that no DNA and forensic results had at that point been returned to Police.

Experts were later to suggest that two people had been involved in the murder of Rebecca -- one to hold her down and the other to inflict the torture wounds with a knife.

DNA results also proved that Mundy had played a major role in her death.

Smith was acquitted of her murder after Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux deemed their to be insufficient evidence for the case to go to the jury. That decision was later labelled "astonishing'' by the Privy Council.

As a result, nobody has been convicted of her murder.

Mr. Middleton said he was disappointed an inquiry had not been held solely into his only daughter's case.

However, it was discussed at length during the inquiry and he said his main hope was that the same mistakes were never made again.

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