Lockerbie police and prosecutors didn’t break law, says probe
POLICE have found no evidence of criminality in the handling of the investigation and prosecution of the Lockerbie bombing case.
Detectives spent four years examining claims by the Justice for Megrahi campaign group in an investigation named Operation Sandwood.
Allegations against the Crown, police and forensic officials who worked on the inquiry included perversion of the course of justice and perjury.
Pan Am flight 103 was on its way from London to New York when it exploded above Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, on December 21, 1988 – killing 270 people.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, then 48, was convicted in 2001 – the only person found guilty of the bombing.
He was jailed for 27 years but was released on ‘compassionate grounds’ in 2009 and died of prostate cancer, aged 60, three years later.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) announced in May that the case would be reviewed to determine whether a fresh appeal could be made against Megrahi’s conviction.
Yesterday, Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said: ‘Officers carried out a methodical and rigorous inquiry using our major investigation framework under the direction of an experienced senior investigating officer. I have had oversight of the investigation since its outset.’
He said the findings and conclusions have been ‘validated’ by a senior QC entirely unconnected with, and acting independently from, the Crown Office.
A spokesman for the Crown Office said: ‘The Lord Advocate has been informed by the Chief Constable of the findings of the Operation Sandwood investigation and of the Chief Constable’s conclusion, informed by the advice of independent senior counsel, that no evidence of any criminality was found.
‘The findings contain material relevant to the live investigation into the Lockerbie bombing and to the SCCRC consideration of the case. On that basis, the documents have been passed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service team dealing with the live investigation so they can be given appropriate consideration.’
Justice for Megrahi campaigners said the findings of the police inquiry would be of importance to the issues being considered by the SCCRC.
The campaign group said: ‘The Operation Sandwood investigation has resulted in a seminal report which has examined many of the controversies which have arisen over the past 30 years. We believe that Police Scotland conducted their inquiry with thoroughness and integrity and we thank them for the work they have carried out.
‘As the 30th anniversary of this tragedy approaches, we feel there is a very real possibility that the truth behind the UK’s worst terrorist outrage will finally be revealed.’
Aamer Anwar, the solicitor for the Megrahi family, said: ‘There are many who, nearly 30 years after the Lockerbie bombing, will be deeply disappointed with the finding of no criminality.’
Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame, who has campaigned for a review of Megrahi’s conviction, said: ‘The plus side of this is that the Megrahi family’s application to the SCCRC should now proceed without delay.
‘I had been advised by the SCCRC that it would report on this application by summer 2019 as to whether there is a case for it to be referred to the Court of Appeal. I hope now that it will proceed more quickly.’
‘Examined many controversies’