A BARRISTER from Kent who led the war crimes prosecution against Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic says there is disappointment and frustration among his team that case could not be concluded.

Milosevic died from a suspected heart attack, bringing an abrupt end to his trial nearly four years after the United Nations began the proceedings in the Hague.

Geoffrey Nice, QC, from Adisham, near Canterbury, has been leading the prosecution against the former Yugoslav leader who he described in evidence as being responsible for "the worst crimes known to mankind".

In what is believed to be the longest case in criminal history, Mr Nice called nearly 300 witnesses and presented 5,000 exhibits during 466 days of hearings. He detailed many of the atrocities in which Milosevic was said to have ordered a campaign of terror, persecution and violence against the Kosovo Albanians.

Speaking from the Hague, Mr Nice, who was given an honorary degree from the University of Kent last year, said: "There is some disappointment and frustration among the team because we had hoped to see his judgement day, perhaps in December, but clearly his death was unforeseeable."

The barrister, who is also a recorder and runs an independent practice in London, was first recruited to the Office for the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1998.

He said: "They were looking for an English barrister and I applied and got the job."

He has led several key cases including the tribunal’s first prosecution of a politician, Bosnian Croat Dario Kordic who was subsequently jailed for 25 years and self-styled 'Serbian Adolf', Goran Jelisic.

But Mr Nice, who has regularly returned home to Adisham to see his family during his appointment, says he will be sad to be leaving the Hague.