suggest the host of murdered teenager Becky Middleton was responsible for her killing.

Mr. Morton insisted hosts had a responsibility to look after people they invite to the Island.

And he said: "If you allow them to go out at night and hang around certain areas or even to go uncontrolled drinking...

"I would think that the host of that household should be responsible to see that a person is protected all the way.

"To go out and just be drinking anywhere and afterwards sit on a wall and jump on anybody's bikes...'' And he claimed that Canadian visitor Ms Middleton, who was 17, and friend Jasmine Meens had been "loosely drinking'' on the night she was raped and butchered after accepting a lift from two men on a cycle after a taxi failed to turn up in St. George's.

Ms Middleton had been staying as a guest of Rick Meens, father of friend Jasmine, when she died.

Similar comments to Mr. Morton's provoked a storm of outrage on a Canadian-based website devoted to the case -- and stoked the fires of a call for a boycott of Bermuda in the wake of the 1996 murder.

Furious Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt, however, tore into Mr. Morton after his rambling speech during the motion to adjourn in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Barritt said it was "unfortunate'' that Mr. Morton, who originally started by deploring the crime rate in Bermuda, had moved on to the Middleton murder.

He added: "I have got young people, children -- you give them the best training and the best direction and guidance when you let them out at night and you hope they exercise good judgment.

Barritt raps Morton over Middleton case "But people make mistakes -- that doesn't give somebody the right to murder somebody or to engage in a sexual assault, no matter how vulnerable they may be.'' In 1996, Kirk Mundy pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in the killing of Ms Middleton and was jailed for five years.

Later attempts to have him re-charged with murder were knocked back all the way to the Privy Council in London, the Island's last Court of Appeal.

And last year, sole murder accused Justis Smith walked free from court after a Supreme Court judge ruled there had been abuse of process and that there was insufficient evidence to put the case before a jury.

Mr. Barritt said Letters to the Editor complaining about the handling of the case and backing a boycott were written "out of anger, out of strong emotion''.

He added: "I am not condoning what they say, neither am I saying what they have to say is right -- but you have to put them in that context.

"There is anger that a murder was committed here and, for one reason or another, no-one has been brought to justice.

And he told Mr. Morton: "In making these comments, one has to be very careful about saying people are trying to cover up their own faults here.'' St. George's South MP the Rev. Wilbur Lowe (PLP) said he supported Mr.

Morton's "concerns'' about the collapsed trial.

He added: "We are all very concerned about that case. We are very hurt and we realise that that's not Bermudian.

"We also realise that a lot of the rebuttal and the letters coming from overseas are out of anger.

"And I do want to say that my heart was touched to hear so much about the violence and the crime that's going on in our Island -- how we are attacking each other, how we are criminalising each other.

"We all know that this is a great danger not only to the Island but also to tourism.'' MURDER MUR