A career-long story of Lockerbie ‘hell’

A retired DC Thomson & Co Ltd journalist has recalled how reporting from Lockerbie on the night of the disaster was like gazing into the “bowels of hell”.

Campbell Gunn, a former political editor who went on to serve as special advisor to two Scottish first ministers, was the newly-appointed chief reporter of the Sunday Post’s then-Edinburgh office when news broke on December 21 1988, and he rounded up two colleagues to attend the scene.

Campbell admits that they used “some subterfuge” to get near the town, as the motorway was closed and there were long tailbacks on the approach.

But even from a few miles away, the smell of burning fuel was heavy in the air, and in the distance they could see a glow in the sky.

“Police officers were obviously tied up in the town, and it was left to an AA man to direct traffic away from the motorway,” he said.

“I showed him my press card and lied to him that the police had told us to come this way. He waved us on to the motorway with a warning: ‘Drive south on the northbound carriageway. There shouldn’t be anything coming the other way, but put on full beam just in case.’

“A few minutes later we were standing gazing into what looked like the bowels of hell, on the edge of the huge crater at the side of the motorway where the fuel-laden wings had landed, exploded and were still burning.

“The rest of the night was spent speaking with witnesses, attending press conferences in the town and sending regular updates to head office from a telephone box – no mobiles in those days, remember – before heading home at seven in the morning.”

Campbell explained that in the years that followed, Lockerbie became a major part of his journalistic life.

He attended the press conference where the then-Lord Advocate announced the charges against Megrahi and his co-accused, Khalifa Fhimah.

He was at Camp Zeist in Holland when the two accused flew in for trial, and he was at Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s press conference when he announced he was to release Megrahi.

Campbell has been reflecting on his own coverage this week, but most importantly, he’s reflecting on the fact that not one of the main players in the attack has ever been brought to justice.

That, he says, is a “tragedy for the Scottish, UK and American justice systems”.

Campbell Gunn.