Commonwealth silver medallist Darren Mew believes he is back on track for the Beijing Olympics after adding two more titles to his collection.

Mew, 26, last night won the British 50m breaststroke in a time - 27.96sec - which would have taken the Commonwealth title last month.

Mew, from the Isle of Wight, took the silver in Melbourne behind fellow Englishman Chris Cook.

But last night's win was marred by the controversial disqualification of Coventry's Adam Whitehead, who has been Mew's friend and domestic rival for ten years.

Whitehead also clocked 27.96 and the scoreboard initially showed they had dead-heated for the gold medal.

But Whitehead was then disqualified for allegedly moving at the start - a verdict which cost him a trip to the European championships and effectively ends his career.

Mew said: "I am gutted for Adam. We've been swimming against each other for a long time."

Earlier Mew cruised through the early stages of the 100m breaststroke before winning the final almost a second clear of Sheffield's James Kirton in 1:01.18.

"It's all going well. I've got a new coach, Kim Swanwick, and have recovered well from the injuries which kept me out of the water for six months after the Athens Olympics," he said.

"Hopefully I will be close to my best again by the Europeans in Budapest at the end of July and even better by Beijing."

City of Southampton had two breaststrokers in the later stages of the men's breaststroke.

Chris Jones, 24, came within two 100ths of a second of his personal best to place sixth in the 100m in 1:03.42. He was also 13th in the 200m (2:20.81).

Teammate Marc Lafosse, 25, was 15th in the 100m with a semi-final time of 1:04.87 but disqualified in the 200.

Southampton's Laura Giddings and Shane Scullion featured in the multi-disability events with Scullion achieving eighth in the 200m medley and Giddings ninth in the 100m freestyle.

Winchester's Commonwealth Games medallist Julia Beckett, pictured below, 19, now at Loughborough University, had mixed fortunes at Sheffield.

She did enough to confirm her place on the British team at the European championships in late July-early August but may have to settle for relay swims as she did in Melbourne.

Her best result came in the 100m freestyle as she took advantage of absent England teammates Melanie Marshall and Fran Halsall to claim a silver medal in a final in which 0.19 seconds covered the first three.

Her time of 56.68 improved her personal best by 0.05sec but was outside Britain's qualifying time for an individual swim in Budapest.

In the 200m freestyle she finished in a disappointing seventh place in 2:03.3, almost 2.5 seconds outside her best.

"I was hoping to qualify for an individual swim in the 200 but it just didn't happen," said the former student of Kings' School, Winchester, and Peter Symonds College.

"I'm very tired and run-down after the Commonwealth Games with all the travelling and time differences involved.

"My first 100m was really good but I didn't have the strength to bring it back. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster."

Beckett, who has been made a life member of her childhood club Winchester Penguins, described her first Commonwealth Games as an "amazing experience".

"They love their swimming in Australia and the crowd was so loud," she said.

"The experience inspires you to want to go and do more - particularly the Olympics, of course. I am aiming to qualify for Beijing."

Portsmouth Northsea's former world champion Katy Sexton held off the challenges of 15-year-old Lincoln prodigy Lizzie Simmonds to win the 50 and 100m backstroke but had to settle for silver in the 200.