THE family of a man who died in mysterious circumstances 17 years ago hope they are now closer to finding out what happened to him after a review of the police handling of the case.

The body of Kevin McLeod, 24, was found in Wick Harbour the morning after he had enjoyed a night out in the town in February 1997.

Senior officers have ­consistently said that police did not receive instructions from the procurator-fiscal to extend their inquiries into the electrician's death, which appeared in the initial stages to be an accident.

But the Police Investigations and Review Commission (Pirc) has now found that a complaint from Mr McLeod's father, Hugh, into the police handling of this aspect of the case was "not dealt with to a reasonable standard".

The commissioner, Professor John McNeill, has told Police Scotland to conduct further inquiries into whether officers did receive an instruction from the procurator fiscal.

Mr McNeill's report says: "The Commissioner recommends that Police Scotland examines the statements of the officers who might have received such an instruction by Mr D (the ­procurator-fiscal), conducts any other enquiries considered necessary, and writes to the applicant advising him of any evidence of Mr D's instruction having been received."

Mr McLeod's uncle, Allan McLeod, said the family was delighted by the decision.

He added: "We hope this ­decision is yet another step closer in our campaign to prove that police failed to properly ­investigate Kevin's death."

The family has always claimed that the police investigation was flawed from the start by treating the case as an accidental death.

The night before his death Mr McLeod had gone to play pool with a friend and was last seen in a club in the town. Early investigations concluded that he had stumbled into the harbour on his way home but a subsequent post-mortem examination found he had extensive abdominal injuries.

In his report, the commissioner states that the procurator-fiscal was informed of the injuries the day after the death of Mr McLeod.

His report says: "Mr D's ­position is that he thereafter made contact with Detective Sergeant E (now deceased) and instructed that the matter was potentially a murder inquiry and should be treated as such."

But although the detective established that Mr McLeod had been involved in an altercation with another man in the nightclub, he formed the opinion that the abdominal injuries were due to a collision with a bollard on the harbour quayside. However, the family, including parents Hugh and June, is convinced Mr McLeod got into an argument and was attacked, causing the injuries that led to his death.

In 2002, the investigation was reviewed by Andrew Cameron, chief constable of Central ­Scotland Police, who found shortcomings and said it was wrong to dismiss Mr McLeod's death as an accident.

In 2007, Northern Constabulary was criticised by Jim Martin, the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland, for its "institutional arrogance" in handling complaints from Mr McLeod's family.

Allan McLeod added yesterday: "Our concern is the failure to conduct a murder inquiry was gross negligence.

"We now hope that further inquiries will take place so we can find out the truth behind what happened to Kevin and how his case was handled.

"We have been pursuing this for 17 years now and we are ­determined not to give up."

A spokeswoman for Pirc said: "The Commissioner's review of this case is now complete and a report has been sent to the family and Police Scotland.

"The Commissioner made a single recommendation in his report, which is for Police Scotland to implement."

A Police ­Scotland spokesman said: "We have received the report from the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and are currently considering the recommendation that has been made."