SCCRC to undertake fresh review of Lockerbie bomber conviction

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission announced has accepted a further application by the family of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to review his conviction.

It will now conduct a full review of the conviction to decide whether it would be appropriate to refer the matter for a fresh appeal to the High Court of Justiciary.

Mr Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the murder of the 259 passengers and crew on board Pan American World Airways flight PA 103 from London to New York, which blew up over the town of Lockerbie, where 11 residents also died, on 21 December 1988. His first appeal was refused by the High Court in 2002.

He applied in 2003 for a review of his conviction to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which after a full review referred his case to the High Court in 2007. He abandoned that appeal in 2009 in what the Commission has now concluded was the "genuine and reasonable belief" that it would allow him to be returned to his native Libya. Soon afterwards he was released from prison on compassionate grounds due to terminal cancer, though he lived on until 2012.

In 2014 the SCCRC rejected a further application as not in the interests of justice at that time, as materials requested form the original defence had not been made available. These were provided ahead of the present application.

Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the SCCRC, explained: "In any application where an applicant has previously chosen to abandon an appeal against conviction the Commission will, at the first stage of its process, look carefully at the reasons why the appeal was abandoned and consider whether it is in the interests of justice to allow a further review of the conviction.

"The Commission has now investigated this particular matter and interviewed the key personnel who were involved in the process at the time the previous appeal was abandoned in 2009. The Commission has also sought access to the relevant materials and has recovered the vast majority of these, including the defence papers which were not provided during its previous review.

"Having considered all the available evidence the Commission believes that Mr Megrahi, in abandoning his appeal, did so as he held a genuine and reasonable belief that such a course of action would result in him being able to return home to Libya, at a time when he was suffering from terminal cancer.

"On that basis, the Commission has decided that it is in the interests of justice to accept the current application for a full review of his conviction."

Solicitor Aamer Anwar, who acts for the Megrahi family, commented: "The reputation of Scottish law has suffered both at home and internationally because of widespread doubts about the conviction of Mr Megrahi. 

"It is in the interests of justice and restoring confidence in our criminal justice system that these doubts can be addressed; however the only place to determine whether a miscarriage of justice did occur is in the appeal court, where the evidence can be subjected to rigorous scrutiny."

Relatives of some of the victims of the disaster, who are among those who have campaigned for a full review of the case, also welcomed the decision.