Justice for Megrahi petition again on Justice Committee agenda

[At its meeting on Tuesday, 3 June 2014 the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee will again consider Justice for Megrahi’s petition (PE1370) calling on the Scottish Government to institute an independent inquiry into the prosecution, trial and conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (agenda item 4).  The papers for the meeting can be read here.  Among them (last three pages of the document) is a report from Police Scotland on the meeting held on 2 April 2014 with representatives of Justice for Megrahi to discuss progress on the police investigation into JFM’s allegations of criminal misconduct in the Lockerbie investigation, prosecution and trial. It reads as follows:]

MEETING SUMMARY

Police Scotland and Justice for Megrahi (JFM) Tulliallan Castle: Wednesday 2nd April 2014.

Present:

Police Scotland: Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone; Detective Superintendent Stuart Johnstone.

Justice for Megrahi (JFM): Iain McKie; Len Murray; James Robertson.

The meeting was held to facilitate liaison between Police Scotland and JFM in

respect of the ongoing police investigation into JFM’s 9 criminal allegations, with

both parties keen to resolve the recent difficulties and use the meeting as a positive

basis to move forward.

In a full and frank discussion, JFM expressed their concern at the progress of the

investigation to date, the lack of feedback in this regard and sought to restore and

maintain mutual confidence through regular liaison. In acknowledgement of the JFM

position, DCC Livingstone reiterated that Sir Stephen House had stated his priority

was an efficient and effective investigation into the allegations and that DCC

Livingstone had been appointed to ensure that this was delivered. Regular liaison

between Police Scotland and JFM was welcomed and would serve to underline this

commitment.

Police Scotland provided a brief synopsis of the extent of the investigations into the

allegations, to date, with some reassurance through emphasis of the high standard

of work and level of detail applied by Mr Shearer prior to his retirement. This work, in

turn, has been subject to independent scrutiny and review, the opinion of which will

help inform the enquiry as it moves forward. This update and explanation was

welcomed by JFM, and served to dispel some misconceptions that the allegations

were not being effectively investigated.

A robust governance structure is now in place, with the appointment of Detective

Superintendent Johnstone as senior investigating officer, to progress work on the

allegations, as directed by Deputy Chief Constable, Crime and on behalf of the Chief

Constable. The enquiry is now being managed through established major incident

procedures, with immediate effect. This methodology was welcomed by the JFM

Liaison Group, and provided an assurance that the enquiry was being robustly

managed, and following established major enquiry processes. A dedicated enquiry

team of selected officers is being appointed under Detective Superintendent

Johnstone, whose full-time remit and responsibility is now the investigation into the

allegations.

JFM stated that they could find no justification in the August 2013 decision to delay

enquiry into allegations 5, 6 and 7, and also challenged the implication, in the Chief

Constable’s letter to JFM dated 20th February 2014, that effectively investigation into

all 9 allegations had been temporarily halted because of this ‘conflict’. The delay had

arisen because of a perceived ‘conflict’ with investigations being carried out by the

Crown Office/Police team seeking evidence against Abdelbaset al Megrahi and

possible others in relation to the downing of Pan Am 103 and the murder of 270

persons. JFM could see no good reason why the allegations could not be

investigated in parallel with the other Libyan enquiries. It was highlighted that on two

occasions the Justice Committee had been informed that the ‘conflict’ would shortly

be resolved and investigation would be restarted. This had not happened. JFM

maintained that far from being in conflict a number of their allegations actually had

relevance to the separate Crown enquiry.

Police Scotland noted JFM’s position and stated that following liaison between Mr

Shearer and the Crown Office conflict between the two enquiries had been identified

and thus delays occurred in progressing certain of the allegations. It was not

possible to share the exact detail of that conflict due to operational security. The

current position was that, of now, a full investigation of JFM’s allegations was

resuming and that it was accepted that in some aspects the two separate enquiries

had common threads running through them that would require to be examined.

However, should such conflicts present themselves the live investigation will at all

times take precedent. This will not, however, preclude the full, proper, and timeous

investigation to the JFM allegations.

The need for regular liaison was recognised as being an important factor if mutual

confidence was to be restored and maintained during the investigative process. JFM

undertook to be available as required to assist the ongoing investigation, and

proposed the formation of a ‘Liaison Group’ charged with responsibility for

maintaining close police links. While inviting the JFM representatives to contact the

enquiry team at any time Police Scotland indicated that they welcomed the concept

of a ‘Liaison Group’ whereby trust and mutual confidence could develop. They would

institute a series of regular meetings shortly where there would be an opportunity to

meet and review. JFM agreed to this proposal but made it clear that as an

organisation with a specific aim (i.e. ‘Justice for Megrahi’) it reserved the right to

challenge the police during the ongoing liaison. Given the length of time that had

already passed, JFM stated that further unexplained or unreasonable delays in the

investigation would not be acceptable.

In conclusion, JFM representatives stated that while they had reservations about the

way their allegations had been handled in the past they were confident that today’s

discussions would prove to be an excellent basis for moving the investigation

forward. Police Scotland underlined their total commitment to the investigation and

their determination that these high priority allegations would be effectively

investigated.

Both parties agreed that the discussions had been open, frank and extremely useful,

and gave a commitment to build on this accord. Police Scotland and JFM agreed

that further liaison meetings will be held in future.

[[A paper by Justice for Megrahi has been submitted explaining its reasons for contending that the Committee should keep the petition open. This paper does not yet appear on the Justice Committee’s webpage.]