Murdered teenager Rebecca Middleton's father has spoken of his hope that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will take up his family's fight for justice.

Dave Middleton fears that unless the problems that caused the case to be botched are fixed, another family is at risk of a similar miscarriage of justice.

As The Royal Gazette reported last week, Rick Meens, who was hosting the 17-year-old Canadian when she was raped and murdered during a vacation on the Island in 1996, applied to the court for a review of the case in January.

He asked the court to find Bermuda and the UK guilty of failing in their obligations to respect the murdered teenager's human rights and is waiting to hear back whether the case will be accepted and proceed to a hearing.

Adding his backing to the move, Rebecca's father, Dave Middleton, 61, said: "I and many others were totally disgusted with the outcome of Becky's case from the Bermuda legal system.

"This is another option for us to pursue and see a wrong corrected and hopefully get the point across that Bermuda could have and should have done a better job of handling this situation.

"The attitude of 'you win some and you lose some' of behalf of the Bermuda legal system leads to more situations like Becky's death becoming commonplace. Hopefully the ECHR can hear this case and point out the errors that lead to no guilty parties found and nothing done to correct it from happening again.

" I do hope this case will be accepted for a hearing and succeed. At this point in time this case has less to do with the Middleton family and is more for the prevention of having a repeat of the flaws allowing the outcome of Becky's case enveloping another unsuspecting family.

"With no corrections or updates in the Bermuda legal system there is a possibility and even a probability of a repeat to the outcome of Becky's case."

In Mr. Meens' application to the ECHR, he asked for: "A full judicial inquiry presided over by a United Kingdom High Court judge with appropriate advisors to examine the entire management of the Rebecca Middleton murder, subsequent failed investigation, and the botched judicial handling of the prosecution and trials."

Mr. Meens, a Canadian-Bermudian residing in Southampton, asked the court to find that the case should be reviewed and fresh forensic examination should take place. He said if that is not done, it will mean that the human rights of Rebecca, her family, and himself as loco-parentis at the time of her death, have not been respected.

Rebecca was found dying at a remote spot in Ferry Reach, St. George's on July 3, 1996, having been raped and stabbed. The fact that no one has been brought to justice for the slaying sparked negative publicity about Bermuda's judicial system both at home and abroad.

Kirk Mundy — a Jamaican then aged 21 — and Justis Smith — a Bermudian then aged 19 — were arrested days later. Mundy was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact before forensic tests were complete, and was jailed for five years. When new evidence later came in allegedly linking him to the killing, the Privy Council rejected a bid by prosecutors to have him face a fresh charge of murder. Meanwhile, the murder case against Smith was thrown out before a jury had a chance to consider it by Judge Vincent Meerabux, who said there was no case to answer.

The Privy Council later criticised him for this "surprising" and "perhaps astonishing" decision, saying there was strong circumstantial evidence. Nonetheless, it ruled the decision could not be overturned and a retrial ordered because in Bermuda there is no right of appeal by the prosecution following a finding by a judge of 'no case to answer' on the facts. An appeal can only be heard on a matter of law alone.

Chief Justice Richard Ground conducted a judicial review of the Middleton case in 2007. During the review, Middleton family lawyer Cherie Booth QC called for Mundy and Smith to be retried on new charges of rape and torture. But Chief Justice Richard Ground said the case could not be reopened before the courts due to the double jeopardy rule.

According to family friend Carol Shuman, it was too expensive for Rebecca's parents, Dave Middleton and Cindy Bennett, to fight the Chief Justice's decision through the Bermuda Court of Appeal and potentially the Privy Council in London. However, there is no fee to apply to the European Court, and an application can be made by anyone with costs only incurred if the case is accepted.