Case against Megrahi could fall apart, says MacAskill

‘Theories will run forever’

THE case against the only man convicted over the Lockerbie bombing could collapse, former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has admitted.

He has questioned the validity of key evidence in the case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, whom he released from prison in 2009.

And he compared fascination with the tragedy to the death of John F Kennedy.

Mr MacAskill believes that conspiracy theories surrounding the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 will ‘run forever’, just like those around the assassination of President Kennedy.

Writing in the Scotsman, Mr MacAskill welcomed the decision of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission for a full review of the case.

The review could lead to a fresh appeal against Megrahi’s conviction. Mr MacAskill has raised a number of issues with evidence used to convict the Libyan – including the testimony of Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, which was vital in securing a guilty verdict.

The senior SNP member said that this must be investigated – alongside other issues – as Mr Gauci received substantial sums of money for his testimony.

Mr MacAskill said it was ‘hard to see’ how this evidence could be accepted ‘given that it’s unprecedented in Scots law and that the court in the same trial castigated the evidence of a paid CIA informer’.

He added: ‘If it falls, then the case against Megrahi almost certainly collapses.’

Mr MacAskill said: ‘That doesn’t mean that those who prosecuted him or convicted him were at fault. In my view, all involved sought to act appropriately in what was an extremely difficult case.’

Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people when it exploded over Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, in 1988.

He was released after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.