The commissioners' report into the handling of serious crime on the Island is not likely to be released until the end of this month.

It was initially hoped the 80-page document making recommendations about the investigation and prosecution of major offences in Bermuda would be made available at the end of this week, beginning of next.

But The Royal Gazette was informed that is not expected to be ready for general distribution as soon as first thought.

Deputy Governor Tim Gurney said: "The Governor is still reading the report.

We are not expecting it to be ready for the public until later on this month.'' Once Governor Thorold Masefield has digested the document, which includes more than 60 recommendations for the Police, prosecutors and the Attorney General's chambers, copies will be given to those people central to the inquiry.

Only after those people, including Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay, Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans and Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo, have had a chance to look at the report, will it be released to the press and public.

Three commissioners were appointed to hold the public inquiry into the handling of serious crime during a six-week period from the beginning of August.

It followed a public outcry over the handling of the murder of Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton in July 1996. Neither one of the two men suspected of committing her death were convicted of her murder.

Kirk Mundy received just five years in prison after he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of accessory after the fact, claiming to having had consensual sex with the 17-year-old on the night she was tortured and stabbed to death. Instead, he pointed the finger of blame at his younger friend Justis Smith.

Forensics experts later revealed that two people had probably been responsible for the rape, torture and slaying of Rebecca.

Justis Smith was acquitted of murder after Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux deemed there to be insufficient evidence against him -- a decision later described as "astonishing'' by the Privy Council in London.

The inquiry did not centre around the botched handling of Rebecca's death and is not expected to go into great detail about it.

However, 42 of the recommendations made by the commissioners are aimed at the Police. Many of them will concern the treatment of victims and their families.