AS a second degree black belt karate instructor and a top defence lawyer, Mark Pettingill is not one to shy away from a fight.

So the news this week that he was dropping his campaign to become the island's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was something of a surprise to many.

Fighting spirit aside, 39-year-old Mr. Pettingill explained that he did not believe the political support was there from the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) to enable him to do the job.

Indeed Mr. Pettingill had fought many battles against the PLP in the past, as a United Bermuda Party (UBP) Senator and then as a candidate in this year's General Election.

Mr. Pettingill said this week: "The Premier spoke about a new spirit of bipartisanship and in the spirit of that I did say I would consider it. But it appears that it is not there, so on that basis I am not prepared to do it."

Government House is now sounding out overseas candidates for the post currently filled by stand-in Kulandra Ratneser.

Mr. Pettingill, who was raised by his mother and grandmother on Ord Road, attended the Gilbert Institute and then Warwick Academy, where he was named Head Boy in his final year.

He earned a degree in education and became a teacher at Sandys Secondary, before he went to England to study again ? this time for a law degree.

In his career as a lawyer, Mr. Pettingill has served on both sides of the legal fence.

In 1991, he became a Crown Counsel in the office of the Attorney General, but left to resume what is a successful ongoing career as a defence lawyer.

Mr. Pettingill has two children, Zach and Sophie, and is currently a managing partner at Wakefield Quin.

Outside of his working life, he is a top local hockey player, as well as a karate instructor.

MR. Pettingill's political career started shortly after the PLP was voted into power in November 1998, when he was appointed as an Opposition Senator, a role he played until February 2002.

When it was announced he would be standing down to be replaced by Neville Darrell, Mr. Pettingill said: "I've always said that I believe that, particularly in Bermuda, politics is not something one should aspire to. It's something that one should be called to. I remain open-minded to being called on to serve the country in other ways."

On July 24, he narrowly missed out on being called upon by the electorate to serve in the House of Assembly as MP for Warwick North East.

By a margin of just 38 votes, he was edged out at the polls by the PLP's Dale Butler, the candidate who gained the most votes at the 1998 election, in a fascinating political clash.

Dejected after his narrow defeat, Mr. Pettingill said: "We always knew that it would be very close and I think that's pretty much as close as we could get. I have a terrific amount of respect for Dale. He's a very good guy. I think it would have been a lot different if I had not been up against Dale Butler. If it had been Jennifer Smith, it would have been a blow-out ? that's a fact."

Mr. Butler himself said he had "no doubt that Mr. Pettingill would one day be a Parliamentarian" and it is unlikely that Bermuda has seen the last of this effervescent character in the political arena.