Crown fights to keep 48 pieces of Lockerbie trial evidence secret

This is the headline over an article by Lucy Adams in today's edition of The Herald, reporting on the (eleventh) procedural hearing in Abdelbaset Megrahi's current appeal held yesterday. The article reads in part:

'Prosecutors are trying to keep secret 48 pieces of evidence relating to the Lockerbie trial, including a secret fax that could discredit a key Crown witness.

'Lawyers for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing, yesterday began a challenge over material they believe will free their terminally ill client.

'But the Crown Office and the UK Advocate General are fighting against disclosure, claiming that in some cases the evidence does not exist.

'The Herald can today reveal that the first item on the list is a fax which, the Libyan's defence team claims, places a fundamental question mark against the original trial testimony of Tony Gauci, who sold clothes later found in the wreckage of PanAm 103 at Lockerbie.

'Judges at Camp Zeist were told that the first "photoshow" with Mr Gauci took place on September 14, 1989, while the fax at the centre of yesterday's proceedings is allegedly dated six days earlier.

'Megrahi's team believes that confusion and disparity further compromises the integrity of a man described as an "important witness" at the trial. (...)

'Another previously unseen fax from the Joint Intelligence Group (JIG) or committee, which was set up after Lockerbie to investigate the case and included representatives from Scottish forces and the security services, refers to a meeting between Mr Gauci and FBI agents when Scottish police were not present. However, no record or statement has been shared with the defence.

'Another JIG fax referred to yesterday indicates that there are other missing statements in relation to Mr Gauci, saying he saw the key clothes purchaser the day afterwards, and identified him as someone other than Megrahi.

'That document refers to concerns among the Scottish police at the time that "the witness was trying to please them".

'The defence also claims that the Crown pre-trial precognition of Mr Gauci was missing and was only recently discovered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The defence is also seeking "undisclosed information about discussion of reward money".

'This is thought to relate to undisclosed discussions that Mr Gauci and his brother, Paul, could be influenced by the rumour of financial remuneration.

'Ms [Maggie] Scott [QC for Megrahi] warned that there was a "reasonable" or "real" possibility that the Crown's failure to hand over the material could constitute a breach of article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to a person's right to a fair trial.

'She explained that, in its written responses to the defence, the Crown had argued that in some cases the calls for information were too wide, in others that the information does not exist and/or that it is not relevant. The hearing continues until at least tomorrow.'

In the course of her submissions to the court Ms Scott referred to the "wholesale opposition" by the Crown to the defence team's requests for disclosure.

In an accompanying article, Lucy Adams writes:

'The trial and world's media was told that the first "photoshow" with Mr Gauci took place on September 14, 1989. However, new evidence yesterday revealed that it actually took place on September 8, yet no record of this meeting or what it uncovered has been shared with the defence team.

'A new document unearthed during the three-and-a-half-year investigation by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, and not previously discussed in public, alerted commission members and defence lawyers to the fact this photoshow had taken place.

'Maggie Scott, Megrahi's QC, said yesterday: "This is part of the history of what happened, which goes to the centre of the reliability of evidence."

'Ms Scott said: "No further information in relation to this photoshow has been disclosed. All we know is that is that he does not make a positive identification but that there is a reference to hairstyles and features.

'"The whole process of selection is important and that is why this background history is so necessary."

'She also revealed that the commission's report said it was a "matter of some concern" that a police statement about the September 8 event had never been recorded.

'Despite the inconsistencies in his 19 statements to the police, even the appeal court described Mr Gauci as reliable.

'However, the commission found that just four days before an ID parade at which he picked out Megrahi, Mr Gauci saw a photograph of the Libyan in a magazine article linking him to the bombing.'