Luke would swap £18m to have his dad back
TRAGIC LOCKERBIE FAMILY 30 YEARS ON
Orphan’s son ‘doesn’t care about compo’
BY NICK SOMMERLAD reporters@reachplc.com THE son of a Lockerbie bombing orphan would swap his £18million inheritance just to have his dad back, his gran said yesterday.
Luke Nesfield lost his dad Steven Flannigan – who was awarded millions in compensation for the disaster – at a young age.
The 21-year-old now lives on a farm near Lockerbie after getting his inheritance recently.
Steven was dubbed the Orphan of Lockerbie after Pan Am flight 103 killed his parents Tom and Kathleen and 10-year-old sister Joanne when it crashed into their family home 30 years ago.
Steven, then 14, was taking the bicycle that was to be Joanne’s Christmas present to a neighbour.
His older brother David, then aged 19, also survived but both were to die prematurely in their 20s.
Luke inherited £18million earlier this year after his dad invested the compensation paid by the airline and later the Libyan government.
His maternal gran Valerie Stevenson said: “He doesn’t really care about the money and he’d give his eye teeth to have his dad back.
“He was so close to his dad, even though he was so young when he lost him.
“Luke has inherited many of his dad’s good qualities. They have the same dry sense of humour. Luke’s dad is not forgotten. We talk about him all the time. But the disaster still affects our whole family 30 years on.”
The Flannigan brothers were awarded £2million compensation from Pan Am, as well as a £6.25million payment to a trust set up in Luke’s name from the Libyan government in 2003.
It is believed this could now be worth £18million.
Steven began a relationship with Lisa Gregory in 1996 and Luke was born in 1997. The pair split just after his birth.
Luke was just three when his father died. Steven was hit by a train after drinking 14 pints of lager and “falling asleep” on the track.
Steven’s brother David had branded the compensation as “dirty money” and used it to fund a hedonistic lifestyle, dying of heart failure in Thailand just four years after the Lockerbie bombing.
Val said: “Luke is a nice, funny, down-to-earth boy. He keeps sheep on his farm and comes down to my farm every day to help.
“He won’t be flying any helicopters or going down the road in a Rolls-Royce.
“I don’t know the exact figure he got. He’s not the sort to make a song and dance about it. Luke is a private person but I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like him.”