EX-MINISTER’S ‘BLOOD MONEY’ BOOK INSULT
Lockerbie families’ fury as former Justice Secretary cashes in
KENNY MacAskill was last night at the centre of a ‘blood money’ row over his plans to cash in on a book about freeing the Lockerbie bomber. The former Justice Secretary has quit politics and will this month publish a book about the ‘search for justice’ following Britain’s worst mass murder.
But last night, relatives of some of the 270 victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 condemned him as ‘loathsome’ and ‘disgusting’ for profiting from their misery.
Mr MacAskill’s 2009 decision to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on ‘compassionate’ grounds provoked worldwide fury and a diplomatic row with the US.
Rosemary Mild, 74, whose stepdaughter Miriam Wolfe, 20, was a Lockerbie victim, said: ‘It is blood money when this man is profiting in this way – it is disgusting.
‘Kenny MacAskill should have been
forced to resign at the time of Megrahi’s release because what he did changed the way Scotland was regarded in the US and around the world. It was an abomination of justice.’
Praised by Alex Salmond as ‘a must-read book by the man in the eye of the storm’, The Lockerbie Bombing: The Search for Justice will be published on May 26 as a £20 hardback.
It is understood Mr MacAskill will give his version of the build-up to releasing Megrahi and the global condemnation of the decision to free the former Libyan spy, who lived for two years and nine months after his release.
Mr MacAskill recently claimed he did not realise his decision to free Megrahi would attract such worldwide attention and even referred to the damaging saga as his ‘Andy Warhol moment’. But his 15 minutes of fame sparked fury among US politicians and many relatives of the victims.
American Susan Cohen, who lost her daughter Theodora, 20, in the bombing, said: ‘It is totally self-serving of Kenny MacAskill to write this book. It is loathsome and disgusting.
‘He is profiting from a decision which caused absolute outrage around the world, profiting from other people’s pain. If he is so convinced he made the right decision, why does he feel the need to attempt to justify it?’
Mr MacAskill, 58, who has claimed he wrote the book to ‘set the record straight’, said in a recent interview: ‘It was an Andy Warhol moment. I knew it was going to be big, I didn’t necessarily realise just how big, that it was going to go global.
‘What I can say, without disclosing the full contents of the book, is that I knew we were a cog in a wheel. What I didn’t realise was how small a cog and how big a wheel. I think what comes out of this is that others should hang
‘An abomination of justice’
their head in shame and none of them is in Scotland.’
But a Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘It’s a mystery why Kenny MacAskill would want to highlight one of the worst decisions of his chaotic reign in justice. And given Megrahi was a convicted murderer, many would question the wisdom of the former Justice Secretary cashing in in this way.’
According to Biteback Publishing: ‘The book will detail the build-up to the atrocity and the carnage left in its wake. Mr MacAskill narrates the international investigation that followed and the diplomatic intrigue.’
He also ‘describes the controversial release of Al Megrahi, explains the international dimensions involved and lays bare the commercial and security interests that ran in the background throughout the investigation and trial’.
Finally, the publisher promises, Mr MacAskill will answer ‘why and how it happened’ – and it even claims he will reveal who was ‘really responsible for the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on Scottish soil’.
A total of 259 people on the flight from London to New York were killed, along with 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire.
Megrahi, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted in 2001 but after serving eight years was granted ‘compassionate’ release when doctors said prostate cancer would kill him within three months.
In his biography, Megrahi claimed Mr MacAskill had said he could return to Libya if he dropped an appeal against his conviction – described at the time as ‘hearsay’ by the Scottish Government.
Megrahi did ditch the appeal and flew home to a hero’s welcome, which sparked international outrage. President Barack Obama said the decision was ‘a mistake’.
The bomber survived until May 2012, when he died aged 60.
Mr MacAskill’s ministerial career, ended when he was sacked by Nicola Sturgeon in November 2014.
Last night, Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am 103 group, accused Mr MacAskill of a ‘betrayal’ of the victims, saying: ‘His name will go down in history as someone who did a dastardly act. There is nothing he can do to change that. That will be an infamous name in history: MacAskill.’
Criticism of the book also came from Stuart Graham, stepfather of Colin Marr, who died nine years ago from a single stab wound to his heart after a row with his fiancée at his flat in Lochgelly, Fife.
Mr Graham said Mr MacAskill had refused to address the family’s concerns that Mr Marr was murdered, adding: ‘It’s absolutely ridiculous he’s prepared to accept blood money in this way. It shows no grace, no compassion for victims.’
Mr MacAskill was unavailable for comment. An SNP spokesman referred inquiries to his agent, Caroline Michel, who did not respond to requests for comment.
A Biteback Publishing spokesman said: ‘I can’t comment on the question of [whether he received] an advance, or what Kenny intends to do with any proceeds, as these arrangements are strictly between author and publisher.’