The convictions of Philip Bradshaw and Antoine Anderson for murder should send a strong message that violent crimes in Bermuda can and will be cracked.

That's the hope of Detective Chief Inspector Antoine Daniels, head of the Serious Crime Unit.

"You can't behave in this manner. Even though you go around masked, because you're trying to hide yourselves, the Police can still catch you. That's the message I'm hoping it sends out to prevent other attacks," he said.

The pair responsible for the execution-style shooting of 30-year-old Mr. Richardson on Boxing Day 2007 concealed their faces during the attack, and the prosecution relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence to bring them to justice.

In addition, the willingness of Malika Gumbs a friend of Anderson's sister to give crucial testimony about their suspicious behaviour that night helped nail the convictions.

There are a number of other murders remaining unsolved. They include the case of Jason Lightbourne, 18, who was shot and killed behind the wheel of a car on Ord Road in Paget in July 2006.

And no-one has been brought to justice over the shooting of Shaundae Jones, 20, a college student gunned down at point blank range in Dockyard in April 2003. Mr. Richardson was in the car with Mr. Jones that night, and tried in vain to save his life.

Police have in the past blamed a reluctance on the part of witnesses to come forward as a major problem in cracking such cases. But Mr. Daniels hopes the bravery of Ms Gumbs in taking the stand in the Richardson case despite her safety fears after Anderson harassed her will help crack them.

"As you saw we had a very impactive witness in this case. We're hoping that some of that transfers, and assists us in the furthering of avenues in these other cases," he said.

"The Police morale I'm sure is going to be high as a result. This was some 16, 17-hour days for maybe five or six days in a row when we made the breakthrough (in this investigation). People were totally tired, totally burned out, then if you combine that with the amount of murders and high crime we had last year it just shows you how much time and effort the Police put into this.

"Also, the public should feel proud of their Police service as well as themselves for assisting."

He declined to comment on those investigations, explaining: "Next week we plan to give an update to the press regarding those cases and I don't want to pre-empt that."

However, he did reveal that witnesses in the Richardson shooting were initially reluctant to come forward. He believes that a strategy of sending specific officers into communities to get to know people and win their trust was what persuaded them to help in the end.

"The Police didn't wait for them to come to us. We tried to engage the public through community policing. It wasn't where they were just going to volunteer. We had to kind of make them feel comfortable and explain to them why we needed their assistance," he said.

"At the end of the day if we leave these people, these perpetrators out there, then the whole community is at risk. If you remain silent the harm will continue. If the community stick together, it's more of us than them.

"My advice would be for those people to come forward so we can assist with helping with their safety, and we can aim to get these guys off the streets. The greater risk is not to give evidence."

He added: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank those that have come forward, not only in the Aquil Richardson case but in all the other cases that are progressing pretty well.

"If you look at our record for last year, we actually have someone before the courts for all of them (alleged murders) and the community plays a big role in that as well as the hard work of the Police."

This, the detective believes, is due to a changed focus since he took charge a year ago on "quality" investigating rather than deploying large quantities of resources.

"What we need to concentrate on is the quality. The quality of the witness, the quality of the statements, the quality of the Police officer having the right person in the right place at the right time. That's going to give you the right result."

In addition, Mr. Daniels revealed that a new "guns and gangs team" was set up under his management late last year, in a bid to stop such serious crimes from blighting the Island in future.

"We have the intelligence unit set up to provide intelligence on who may and may not have guns and we're going in that direction to actually target. So hopefully that will pay off," he said.

He was reluctant to give details, but said three people are "driving" the unit, with a team brought in to "take down the target' once identified.

The news comes after Police statistics for 2008, announced on Tuesday, showed an upswing in murder, robbery and firearms offences.

The latter rose from 12 reported firearms offences in 2007 to 19 last year.