The lawyer for a Toronto man cleared in a 1990 murder thinks a newly-released video shows the police did a "dreadful" job of interviewing sex killer Paul Bernardo.

"There was any number of questions they should have asked and didn't," James Lockyer, lawyer for Robert Baltovich, told Canada AM on Wednesday.

"Put him across the table from me, and I have a lot of pretty significant questions for him that the police never bothered to ask."

An Ontario judge ordered the release of the 31-minute tape.

Police were interviewing Bernardo in connection with the 1990 death of Elizabeth Bain, Baltovich's girlfriend of the time.

Baltovich had once been convicted in her death and served eight years in prison, but an appeal court ordered a new trial. The Crown said earlier this year it would not proceed with that trial.

Bernardo lived in Scarborough, Ont. at that time. Someone police had dubbed the "Scarborough rapist" was preying on women in the area, but police didn't tie Bernardo to those crimes until 1993. Bain lived in Scarborough.

Police went to Kingston Penitentiary in June 2007 -- where Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the murders of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy -- to interview him about Bain's murder and disappearance.

Bernardo who is also designated a dangerous offender, denied any role in Bain's death. But he also said this in response to a question about whether he knew her.

"I'm going to answer that one with an 'I don't remember' because if I did, I don't remember," he said speaking in a low voice, looking up. "I know an ex-girlfriend, which I can think -- but I don't know."

Tim Danson, lawyer for the French and Mahaffy families, told Canada AM that he thought Bernardo controlled the interview.

Lockyer concurred with that view.

If an inquiry is ever held into the Baltovich case, Lockyer said Bernardo should be subjected to a proper interview.

"When you ask him, 'did you kill Elizabeth Bain?' he has trouble responding," he said.

Baltovich wanted the tape released "because it could bring back into the public mind the likelihood that Bernardo is Elizabeth Bain's killer," Lockyer said.

Danson said his clients initially reacted "with alarm" to the prospect of the tape's release, but relented when it was clear the "dignity" of their dead daughters wouldn't be compromised.

However, they would personally prefer Bernardo not get any of the publicity he loves, he said.

As to Bernardo himself, "once a psychopath, always a psychopath," Danson said.

"I was also taken aback by the fact he was referring to the rapes of the 'Scarborough Rapist' as if you and I might be talking about the weather or candy. The disconnect is quite remarkable."