Former Attorney General Saul Froomkin yesterday attacked Police's sloppy handling of the plea bargaining in the Middleton murder case.

During the second day of a probe into the handling of serious crimes on the Island, Mr. Froomkin said a written record should have been kept of the deal which allowed Kirk Mundy to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact.

He said they were then wrong to renege on that agreement.

Mundy received just a five-year sentence for his involvement in Rebecca's death, despite DNA tests which proved he had had sex with her prior to the attack.

Justis Smith, who was charged with her murder, walked free.

"In the Mundy matter there was a lack, to my knowledge, of a written immunity document, so everyone knew the arrangement,'' said Mr. Froomkin.

"The fact that the prosecution subsequently sought to breach that agreement was a very bad thing.'' Mr. Froomkin also revealed that detectives with legal queries were warned to stay away from staff in the AG's Chambers by top ranking officers.

But he said officers "surreptitiously'' continued to go to him for advice.

Mr. Froomkin said that, during his time as AG between 1981 and 1991, despite building a good working relationship with detectives, they were told by senior officers that they should no longer refer on cases until a file had been completed.

He said: "I always made myself available to talk to Police officers, but what came down from above was that people should not come to see me until a file had been finished.

"I ran into some opposition from senior officers.

When asked by Bermuda Bar Association president Richard Hector, who has been appointed to help marshal the inquiry and present the evidence, to identify where the warning came from, he answered: "I would rather only say, if I may, that it came from high up.'' He said his view had always been that it was critical for both attorneys and Police to work together to ensure that legal problems did not crop up later and to make certain that files contained the depth needed to successfully prosecute.

But he said he always told his staff that it was imperative for both the lawyers and the officers to keep their roles separate.

The Commission, headed by chairman Justice Stanley Moore and assisted by former British deputy chief constable Don Dovaston, and Shirley Simmons, a consultant at law firm Trott and Duncan was sworn in on Monday.

The inquiry was sparked by the botched investigation and prosecution of the case against two men accused of the July 1996 murder of 17-year-old Rebecca.

The Commission's terms of reference do not mention the Middleton case specifically, but people are being asked to give evidence as to how they believe major cases are handled.

Yesterday, Mr. Froomkin said when he was AG he found, and still found, the majority of Police officers dedicated, professional and able in their work.

But he said the size of the Island and the low amount of serious crime, especially suspicious deaths, meant that officers sometimes lacked experience and the necessary tools to work with, such as a DNA testing facility in Bermuda.

He appreciated there would always be budget problems within the Police service, but said more effort should be made to ensure officers received training overseas.

He said it was not practical to have specialists on the Island to deal with serious crimes that arose infrequently, but he suggested better relationships be formed with experts abroad to make sure they could be brought in at the earliest possibility as and when they were needed.

Referring back to the Middleton case, Mr. Froomkin, while talking about an obvious lack of expertise on the Island, said: "Based on my knowledge on the Middleton case, a senior pathologist should have been here straight away.

"DNA is a major factor here. We ought to have resources here so we can get DNA to specialists in the form they are required.

Saul Froomkin CRIME CRM