The unsolved murder case of Rebecca Middleton is to be revisited after Bermuda's top judge today granted permission for a judicial review into a decision not to to consider fresh charges relating to the killing of the Canadian teenager in 1996.

Lawyers working on behalf of Becky's father David Middleton are now preparing to argue in court for a sexual assault prosecution to be brought against two suspects in relation to the 17-year-old's brutal rape and murder.

Chief Justice Richard Ground met privately with Mr. Middleton's team and announced today that he was satisfied they had the basis of a legal argument to question the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision earlier this year not to seek fresh prosecutions relating to the circumstances surrounding Becky's death.

Attorney Jackie Stirling, one of the legal team working with Mr. Middleton, said it was anticipated papers would be filed with DPP director Vinette Graham Allen during the coming week with the expectation that a court hearing will take place in the early part of 2007.

Mr. Middleton, who was on the Island when he heard the news, said: "I'm very pleased. We are looking at this as the first step.

"We have had setbacks before and when you get them you wonder if there is any way around them. Something of this nature should be a way to correct something that appears very wrong."

No one has ever been convicted of Becky's murder, although Kirk Mundy was convicted of being an accessory after the fact. In 1998 another man Justis Smith was acquitted of a murder charge by a judge who ruled there was no case to answer.

Lawyers at Appleby Hunter Bailhache have been working to re-open legal proceedings with a view to bringing new charges relating to the sexual assault of Becky that took place immediately before her murder at Ferry Reach, St. George's, in July 1996.