David Cowan

The single most important piece of evidence from the case was a thumbnail-sized fragment of circuit board, found embedded in the neck band of a shirt from the suitcase that held the bomb.
The trial judges accepted evidence from scientists that it was part of an MST-13 bomb timer sold to Libya by MEBO, a Swiss firm with connections to Megrahi.
Towards the end of the Sky drama, Dr Swire becomes even more convinced of Megrahi’s innocence after learning that tests on the fragment showed it had a different coating from the MST-13 timers obtained by Libya. This evidence was examined by the SCCRC before it sent Megrahi’s conviction back to the appeal court in 2020.
It said it was “not persuaded” that it called into question the judges’ conclusion that the fragment came from an MST-13 timer which triggered the bomb. The drama tells viewers that the British government used public interest immunity certificates to prevent the disclosure of “secret intelligence documents allegedly implicating Iran and the PLFP-GC” and that those documents “remain classified to this day”.
The certificates were imposed in 2008 and again in 2020, when the UK’s foreign secretary said their disclosure would harm the UK’s international relations and damage counter-terrorism liason and intelligence gathering. An independent investigator from the SCCRC was allowed to view the two documents in 2006 and concluded that the prosecution’s failure to disclose one of them to the defence might have resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
The matter wasn’t dealt with in court because Megrahi abandoned his second appeal. In 2019, the SCCRC looked at them again. This time it decided one of the documents involved inadmissable hearsay and the second would not have made any difference to the defence, had it known about it.
The appeal court accepted the SCCRC’s views and the government’s argument that disclosure could harm national security. The Sky drama informs its audience that some names, scenes and characters have been “changed or fictionalised for dramatic purposes”. There are examples of that throughout, including its portrayal of the day of the verdicts at the Lockerbie trial.
Megrahi stood trial alongside another Libyan, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, at Camp Zeist – a specially convened Scottish court in the Netherlands. The programme ramps up the tension as the judges announce they have found Fhimah not guilty and Megrahi guilty. This prompts jubilation among almost all of the relatives in the court’s public gallery, with people leaping to their feet and hugging each other.
A distressed young Libyan woman bangs on a glass partition shouting “That’s my dad!” as a bewildered Megrahi is sentenced to life in a Scottish prison. Played by Colin Firth, Dr Swire faints and falls to the floor. In real life, the judges announced the verdict the other way round. There were gasps and tears but no outbursts of emotion; the atmosphere remained sombre; Megrahi was impassive; no-one banged on the glass.
In a shocking and unforgettable moment, Dr Swire did faint and had to be carried from the courtroom. The sentence was announced later that day. A group representing relatives of some of the American victims has criticised the Sky drama. Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said it “amplifies falsehoods and unsupported theories; ignores the work of hundreds of family members by focusing on one; disregards the work of investigators and prosecutors; and brings to life, in grotesque detail, the events of 21 December 1988”.
The group continued: “Worst of all, the series presents a convicted murderer as an innocent man that should be empathized with.” Sky said it understood that there were “opposing opinions” and that the series did not attempt to tell the definitive version of the Lockerbie disaster or present a conclusion.
“We do not underestimate the responsibility of telling this story sensitively,” it added. “We engaged with victims’ families and support groups throughout production and in the lead up to the series launch.” Dr Swire said he hoped the series would cause people to “have another look at the criminal investigation after Lockerbie. “I would like to know the whole truth about my daughter’s brutal murder along with those of 269 other people.”
The second Lockerbie trial
Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said the trial had found that the bombing was orchestrated by the Libyan government and that multiple individuals were involved. “Megrahi was found guilty and two appeals have upheld that conviction,” a spokesperson said.
“Scottish prosecutors are working with their US counterparts to support the current prosecution. The trial in Washington will bring the facts before the public again and the circumstances of what happened can be fully understood.” In May, a Libyan man in his 70s will stand trial in Washington, accused of the destruction of a civil aircraft resulting in death.
Abu Agila Masud has denied building the bomb which destroyed Pan Am 103 in a Libyan intelligence operation involving Megrahi and Fhimah. Prosecutors in Washington are likely to lead evidence from the first trial along with new information gathered in the years that followed.
The defence will be armed with all the counter arguments from Megrahi’s legal teams and the SCCRC’s doubts over the safety of his conviction. In addition to the Sky series, a BBC/Netflix drama on Lockerbie is also due to be screened later this year, focusing on the joint Scottish/US investigation.
More than 36 years after the tragedy, the controversy surrounding the deadliest terror attack in British history shows no sign of fading away.
_______________________