Kirk Mundy is to be represented by a new lawyer -- so his former attorney can lobby for the charge of murdering a Canadian teenager to be dropped.

Mundy, accused of killing Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton, has had his case taken over by former Attorney General Saul Froomkin QC.

Mr. Froomkin, of Mello, Hollis, Jones and Martin, told The Royal Gazette last night that he had taken Mundy as a client.

The move follows an application for a judicial review by Mundy's former lawyer Mark Pettingill.

Mr. Pettingill, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, is fighting for Mundy's murder charge to be dropped.

He was granted leave for a judicial review last Thursday and it is understood he can no longer take instructions from Mundy as he will have to present evidence to the review hearing.

Mundy, a 22-year-old Jamaican from Brunswick Street, Pembroke, is already serving a five-year prison term after pleading guilty to being an accessory to Rebecca's murder in July 1996.

Eighteen-year-old co-defendant Justis Raham Smith, of Deepdale Road, Pembroke, had already been charged with the murder.

But Mundy, who was expected to give evidence at Smith's trial in February, was also charged with murder by the Attorney General earlier this month.

At the time, Mr. Pettingill said: "Our position is that what the Attorney General has attempted to do is an abuse of process in that it should not be done this way.

"It's been dealt with very sloppily from the outset and now they are trying to have a second bite of the cherry.'' Mr. Froomkin said last night: "I can confirm that I am now acting for Kirk Mundy. Other than that I have no comment to make.'' Seventeen-year-old Rebecca, of Belleville, Ontario, was found with fatal stab wounds on Ferry Reach, St. George's.