Jim Swire: SNP's failure to order Lockerbie bombing inquiry will harm its indyref chances

[This is the headline over a report published this morning on the website of The Herald.  It reads as follows:]

The father of a young woman killed in the Lockerbie bombing warns the SNP's hopes for the referendum will be adversely affected by Scotland's failure to address major concerns about the prosecution and the trial.

Dr Jim Swire has written the foreword to a new book to be launched today called Scotland's Shame. The book's author John Ashton, biographer of the Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, brands the case the greatest scandal of Scotland's post-devolution era.

Dr Swire, who was born and raised in Skye, argues that the case could have a bearing on next year's independence vote. He writes: "Scottish justice survived the Act of Union with England with its independence intact: perhaps since then it has been a talisman of Scotland's reputation as an independent nation capable of running its own affairs. If that is so, Scotland - my country - would do well to address the apparent problem of the impenetrable arrogance of her prosecuting authorities that seem to have blighted her justice system ever since it became clear that the Lockerbie trial had been defective.

"It is best addressed from within Scotland herself and may well be a factor which will block independence until it is resolved, for an independent community with an obscured and mistrusted justice system can never be a healthy community.

"We would wish healing, not harm, for Scotland and all her people, but the arrogant refusal to consider fault has dragged on so long that the cure is not likely to be found within the timescale now scheduled for the independence debate. It is to be hoped that the refusal of the current Scottish Government to intervene with an independent inquiry, despite clearly having the powers required to do so, is not driven by motives of party advantage."

An SNP spokesman said: "We have enormous respect for Dr Swire, and hope he would accept that everything that has been done in Scotland in relation to the Lockerbie atrocity. [RB: Something has clearly been omitted from the statement here.] In stark contrast, the Westminster Government based its stance on Mr al-Megrahi's release on political and economic considerations."

[A press release relating to John Ashton’s book has been issued, embargoed until 11.00 today.  I shall post it on this blog once I have returned from the book launch.]

John Ashton's new Lockerbie book

A reminder that John Ashton’s new book Scotland’s Shame: Why Lockerbie Still Matters, with a foreword by Dr Jim Swire, is published tomorrow. It is obtainable through the website of the publisher, Birlinn; at good bookshops; and through Amazon.

The Lord Advocate that Scotland so dearly needs but sadly will never have

[Justice for Megrahi’s secretary, Robert Forrester, has circulated to JFM’s members and supporters the following tribute to the late Jock Thomson QC:]

It pains me to inform you of the death of Jock Thomson QC today. Jock was one of life's good guys and is going to be very sorely missed. 

He was one of the most highly principled, personable, forthright and open individuals I have ever had the honour of encountering. It is with the greatest personal regret that my first meeting with him did not take place until October of last year, not long after he had become a JFM Committee member. He was a shining example of someone who fearlessly applied the value of his considerable and varied experience to make the world a better place. His employment ranged through life as a merchant seaman, a police officer, a fiscal's depute and latterly as a defence advocate. It is Scotland's immeasurable loss that someone of his balanced and wise perspective was not invited to take over the pilot's seat at the Crown Office.

Jock needed no encouragement to join our campaign, he leapt in straight away at the sharp end. He was far from backwards at coming forwards in his criticism of the Crown Office at our October press conference last year. He was also the kind of person who immediately put one at one's ease. His sense of humour and natural, amiable affability with new acquaintances was immediately in evidence as we travelled up in the lift together for the media briefing. On that occasion, he related the tale of the time he, as a representative of the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, was responsible for prosecuting another rather eminent member of our campaign: an individual whom Jock always held in the highest regard, I should add. Apparently, the accused had turned up somewhat late for the court hearing. When, eventually, the aforementioned accused did finally emerge, he apologiised for inconveniencing the court but had been delayed due to his having crashed his plane on the way to the proceedings! Jock's emails to other members in our circle were often sprinkled with humorous references to and terminology from opera too: one of his great passions.

On behalf of all at JFM, I extend the deepest and most sincere of condolences to Christina, Jock's most beloved wife, soprano and Creative Director at Edinburgh Grand Opera, and one of our rank. 

Jock was the Lord Advocate that Scotland so dearly needs but sadly will never have. 

[A moving obituary by Steven Raeburn has been published on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.]

Jock Thomson QC: a sad loss

I am greatly saddened to learn of the death of Jock Thomson QC, a stalwart Justice for Megrahi supporter and adviser, and a former police officer and procurator fiscal depute before being called to the Bar. Here is what Steven Raeburn posted earlier today on Facebook:

“Truly saddened to learn of the passing of an immense man. The great Jock Thomson. I had the pleasure of getting to know him via The Firm, and very, very rarely in my career have I encountered someone held in such high esteem by his peers. A man of true principle, conviction, rigour, integrity, personifying the best of the profession. He led by the strength of his own example, and stood tall when the law and those charged with leading it were unable to be the equal of his example. He was held in the highest regard by the best of people, and the world is truly a poorer place without him. Carve his name with pride.”

I concur.

Here is something that Jock Thomson wrote just under a year ago:

‘"I have marched for CND and marched against the Iraq War. I am tired of marching." The Justice Secretary and I have that much in common. I share his abhorrence of nuclear weapons. I too have marched for CND, against the Iraq War and Walked for the World. I too am tired, but I have one march (at least) left in me. 

‘To Strasbourg and back if needs be. For what? For an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie disaster which arguably brought about the greatest miscarriage of justice in our history – ever.

‘But I'm older and sadder and (if not wiser) certainly more tired than Mr MacAskill. Please spare me the effort. Order an independent public inquiry into the shame that brought about Megrahi's conviction. Stifle your “we've-heard-it-all-before” yawns: when, until now, has Crown Office been described as being "institutionally corrupt"? (Scottish Law Reporter 17 Oct).

'If your hands are clean -

If the hands of your Law Officers and those in Crown Office are clean -

If what happened at Camp Zeist can be said to be clean -

What, Sir, have you to fear?'

Lockerbie miscellanea

1.  A Lockerbie timeline has recently been posted on the CNN website.  For those wishing an overview of the chronology of the Lockerbie affair (from an American perspective, of course) it is useful. Other Lockerbie timelines have been produced, eg by the Scottish Government and The Guardian.

2.  A favourable review of James Robertson’s The Professor of Truth has appeared on the website of Minnesota’s Star Tribune newspaper.  The US edition of the book was published on 9 September.

3.  James Robertson will be talking about The Professor of Truth at the Wigtown Book Festival, today at 16.30.

Syracuse University's Lockerbie oral history project

[The following are extracts from an article posted yesterday on The Post-Standard’s Syracuse website:]

What do you remember about the bombing of Pan Am flight 103?

Syracuse University's Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives is seeking people to share their reflections about the incident.

Twenty-five years ago, on Dec 21, 1988, 40 people from Central New York were among the 259 killed when the plane fell on the Scottish village of Lockerbie. Eleven townspeople died on the ground. Among the dead were 35 students from Syracuse University, a Clay couple and three students from other Central New York colleges.

"Telling the Stories: The Pan Am 103 Story Archive Project" is an attempt to gather oral histories from those who have firsthand knowledge of Pan Am Flight 103, those who have experienced the impact of the tragedy over the years and those who draw lessons from it. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, former Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars and family and friends of the victims are encouraged to participate. (...)

The oral histories collected will become a part of the Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives, a center located in Bird Library that is dedicated to research and scholarship on the tragedy and to remembering the 270 victims.

The collection of oral histories will be done during Syracuse University's Remembrance Week, Mon Oct 7, through Sat Oct 12, from 9 am to 4 pm.

An appointment is required. For more information or to make an appointment, call 315-443-0632 or e-mail pa103archives@syr.edu.

More information can also be found at http://syr.edu/pa103remembrance25/.

[The fruits of an earlier oral history project, focusing on the stories of inhabitants of Lockerbie, are to be found in Jill Haldane’s 2008 book An' Then the World Came Tae Oor Doorstep: Lockerbie Lives and Stories.  My foreword can be read here.]

Justice for Megrahi secretary reports on recent developments

[What follows is the text of a report on recent developments distributed yesterday to members and supporters of Justice for Megrahi by the group’s secretary, Robert Forrester:]

You will be aware that petition PE1370 lives to fight on in its quest to be registered in the Guinness Book of Records subsequent to the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament (JC) session of 24 September 2013. In no short measure this was due to the eloquent manner in which John Finnie MSP wielded so robustly his elegant cleaver. Our very own Christine Grahame managed what must be something of an awkward situation, being both a member of JFM and the Convener of the JC, most diplomatically. The Committee of JFM fully takes on board her request that we not carpet bomb JC members with submissions of such volume as we have tended to in the past.

The TV recording of the JC consideration of 1370 referred to above may be viewed here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/41407.aspx.     

Matters became somewhat circumscribed by DCC Shearer's last minute submission of a letter to the JC concerning the contrasting perceptions of the meeting held at Police Scotland's Dumfries and Galloway Division HQ on 16 August that exist between himself and JFM. This letter, along with all other relevant documents may be read here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/44107.aspx.

On a personal level, and for what it is worth, my opinion of DCC Shearer remains positive. In the two meetings at Cornwall Mount between ourselves and Police Scotland, Patrick Shearer has been a flawless model of friendliness, scrupulous courtesy and professionalism. I also regard him as a consummate politician. However, the JFM recollection of events at Cornwall Mount on 16 August is crystal clear, and, furthermore supported by: Professor Robert Black QC, Detective Superintendent of police (Rtd) Iain McKie and myself, Robert Forrester; moreover, it diverges considerably from the recollection of DCC Shearer.

At the beginning of our 16 August encounter, DCC Shearer informed the three JFM Committee members that he, having identified what he perceived as a potential conflict between our allegations 5, 6 and 7, and the so called 'live and on-going' COPFS investigation into incriminating other Libyan nationals for the downing of 103 alongside Mr al-Megrahi, had approached the Crown Office to seek a resolution to the matter. The result of this consultation was that DCC Shearer was, 'for the time being', apparently, to sideline JFM allegations 5, 6 and 7. Members will be aware that all three allegations relate to the shard of PCB frequently referred to as PT/35b. Moreover that said allegations were all to be spoken to by JFM witness Mr John Ashton.

I am perfectly clear on what occurred. Indeed, in my momentary disbelief, I actually asked DCC Shearer to repeat what he had said to us in order to confirm the detail so that I could report events as accurately as possible to our membership. It is most difficult, in fact impossible, therefore, not to come to the conclusion that Mr Shearer approached the Crown Office in order to obtain permission to drop 5, 6 and 7 from our allegations. These allegations were duly dropped from his investigation as a direct result of his encounter with COPFS. Moreover, you will also recall that I asked him to inform us of who the SIO of the COPFS attempts to implicate further Libyans, alongside Baset, is. This he felt unable to do. My assessment is that he is SIO for both the JFM allegations and that of the much trumpeted COPFS investigation, 'live and on-going' no less, targeting Libya. Otherwise, why did he feel the need to consult COPFS in the first instance? All of the above was reported by me to you at the time and then later publicised in the public domain by Robert Black straight after the August meeting (see: http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/report-on-meetings-with-investigators.html). You will also find our latest press release on the matter here: http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/megrahi-campaigners-respond-to-public.html.

Further to the above, I should inform you all that JFM is currently in the midst of rather delicate discussions with the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP). The text of our initial letter to the IAP Secretary General, Mr Kuipers, is available in its redacted form here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/General%20Documents/20130919_Report_to_IAP.pdf (page 2 to end).

Megrahi campaigners respond to public vilification by Crown Office

[What follows is the text of a press release issued this afternoon by Justice for Megrahi:]

CROWN OFFICE’S “ABSOLUTELY FALSE” CLAIM REFUTED BY JUSTICE FOR MEGRAHI -- three members “crystal-clear” about conversation with Deputy Chief Constable

Justice for Megrahi (JFM) has responded to media statements yesterday by the Crown Office that JFM claims the Crown had stopped a police chief investigating a number of criminal allegations related to the 1988 Lockerbie disaster were ‘absolutely false’.

‘‘JFM takes great exception to the implication in yesterday’s Crown Office statement to the media that JFM’s claims about Crown Office interference in a police investigation were false.

“The three members of JFM who met with the police in relation to their allegations are crystal-clear about what was said. If the Crown Office wishes to ascertain the facts or clarify the situation, it would be better to meet privately with those concerned. Instead they engage, not for the first time, in public vilification of a group who, in the face of Crown Office opposition, are trying to have a public inquiry mounted into the circumstances surrounding the Lockerbie tragedy in 1988.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

In 2012 the Justice for Megrahi organisation formally lodged eight criminal allegations against British nationals representing the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary (now termed Police Scotland Dumfries and Galloway Division) and forensic officials.

The allegations concerned perverting the course of justice, perjury and the breach of section 44(2) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (violation of duty by a constable) for their conduct during the investigation of the downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988 and the subsequent legal proceedings.  These allegations were made to the police under protest as the members of JFM believed that the Crown Office and police should not be investigating allegations against themselves and that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill should order an independent investigation.

In August of this year, three members of the JFM group - Professor Robert Black QC, Mr Iain McKie and Mr Robert Forrester - had a meeting with Deputy Chief Constable Shearer who had been directed by the Crown Office to investigate their allegations. He told them that during his enquiries the Crown Office had instructed him not to investigate three of their criminal allegations.

JFM subsequently reported this fact to the media and to various organisations. These included the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament as part of their evidence submitted in support of a petition they had lodged calling for a public inquiry in connection with the investigation of the downing of Pan Am 103 and the subsequent legal proceedings.

As this petition was being considered this week in the Scottish Parliament by the Justice Committee, Deputy Chief Constable Shearer submitted a letter to the committee stating that, at his August meeting with the three JFM members, he had not told them that he had been instructed by the Crown Office not to investigate three of the allegations and that ’the decision not to pursue these allegations at this time rests with me alone.’

The Crown Office followed up this extraordinary denial in a media statement:

"The allegations made by Justice for Megrahi are being considered by DCC Shearer in accordance with due process. It is absolutely false that Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have instructed DCC Shearer not to investigate any of their allegations.”

Busy doing nothing

[This is the heading over an item published yesterday on the Lockerbie Truth website of Dr Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph.  It reads as follows:]

On the 9th February this year the following letter was addressed to the Scottish Lord Advocate. We feel it appropriate at this time to remind people of its contents.

Before reading it, please note the following:

• Evidence given to the Lockerbie trial by a key forensic witness was false.
• In 1989 he recorded in long-hand that a significant metallurgical difference existed between the Lockerbie fragment and a set of printed circuit boards similar to those supplied to Libya in 1985.
• Yet ten years later during the trial he stated that the Lockerbie fragment was "similar in all respects" to the PCBs supplied to Libya.
• Four new witnesses, including the production manager in charge of the manufacture of the Libyan PCBs, and two reputable metallurgical scientists, are willing to show important new scientific evidence and give statements to the Scottish police.
• But the senior police officer in charge of the Lockerbie investigation is refusing to interview any of the four witnesses.
• He claims that to do so would "interfere with an on-going investigation in Libya." [RB: Further information here.]
• How such interviews could "interfere" with matters in Libya is not explained. He has however indicated that the issue might be resolved "in a matter of weeks".

Dear Lord Advocate,

With the publication almost a year ago of the book Megrahi: You are my Jury, it became public knowledge that there is scientific proof that the fragment of circuit board led in evidence at Zeist and known as PT35b although mimicking circuit boards owned by Libya, could never have come from any such board.

This circuit board fragment was the crucial link at trial, suggesting that the bomb could have come from Malta, since it represented a fragment from a long running timer.

I am horrified to hear this week that Urs Bonfadelli (Thuring’s production manager, & maker of the MEBO boards), Dr Chris McArdle and Dr Jess Cawley, the three experts most involved in defining the significance of the discrepancy over the metallurgy of PT35b have never been approached by the Crown Office or the Dumfries and Galloway police in connection with this devastating discovery during the whole of the time since publication of Mr Ashton’s book.

I must therefore ask that you will immediately launch an inquiry into all matters surrounding PT35b, its origin, and its discovery inside a Dumfries and Galloway police evidence bag.

It is, Sir, now over 24 years since my daughter Flora was murdered at Lockerbie. As her father I have a right to know who murdered her and why her life was not protected. Such lethargy as this is intolerable.

Adherence to the Zeist verdict, in the face of the immediate criticisms of the UN’s special observer Professor Hans Koechler, and those of Professor Robert Black QC, and many others, along with the SCCRC findings, and now this metallurgical finding, while at the same time refusing to investigate all these apparently well supported allegations would in the event that those allegations are found to be justified, be seen as dereliction of the duty of the Crown Office to deliver timely justice. Effectively it would also amount to protection for the real perpetrators.

May I remind you of these words often attributed to philosopher Edmund Burke:  All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

I request therefore that you immediately commence a credible investigation, into all these matters, specifically including the circuit board fragment PT35b, its origin, and its finding inside a Dumfries and Galloway police evidence bag, without any further delay.

Further, in view of the extraordinary public statement made by the Crown Office concerning the 'allegations of criminality', lodged by the group known as JFM, before even receiving their supporting evidence, and accusing them of being fantasist conspiracy theorists, I feel that this letter should be made publicly available at once. I have therefore copied it elsewhere.

I am proud simply to be involved in a search for the truth, concerning my daughter’s murder, and not in any attempt to denigrate others in the process.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Jim Swire

Justice Committee keeps Megrahi petition open

[The following report on the consideration this morning of Justice for Megrahi’s petition by the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is taken from the website of the Paisley Daily Express:]

A petition calling for an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bomber's conviction has been kept alive by MSPs.

Holyrood's Justice Committee wants to wait until a "point of conflict" with the live investigation has been resolved, said to be in a matter of weeks.

Committee members were sent a letter from Deputy Chief Constable Patrick Shearer, of Police Scotland, who used to be the top officer at the old Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.

He rejected accusations that the Crown Office had interfered with police investigations, saying a decision to delay particular inquiries was made by him alone. [RB: The clear recollection of the three members of the Justice for Megrahi committee who attended the relevant meeting with Mr Shearer on 16 August 2013 is set out here in a report produced by JFM’s secretary Robert Forrester.]

It follows concerns raised by pressure group Justice for Megrahi about the way the Crown and police have handled the entire inquiry into the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who died last year, was the only man convicted for the atrocity which killed 270 people.

Justice for Megrahi reported Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland to the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) with its concerns about the inquiries.

Before the committee meeting, group secretary Robert Forrester said: "As the 25th anniversary of the Lockerbie tragedy approaches, the Scottish Government has apparently washed its hands of any responsibility for further action in relation to our concerns.

"It is therefore of paramount importance that this affair remains a live issue within the Scottish Parliament and that the Justice Committee continues in its duty to 'scrutinise the policies and performance of the Scottish Government and its agencies in matters related to justice' and ensures that this massive stain on our justice system is not buried in the cause of the unaccountable self-interest of our major prosecution agencies."

The IAP, which was formed as a non-political organisation in 1995, aims to raise standards of professional conduct and ethics for prosecutors across the world, while promoting the rule of law, fairness, impartiality and respect for human rights.

The association can consider whether the complaint amounts to a breach of its standards.

Justice for Megrahi alleges four breaches, covering independence, impartiality, professional conduct and role in criminal proceeding.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Mr al-Megrahi was convicted in a court of law and the Scottish ministers are clear that a court is the only appropriate forum for considering all the evidence in the case and determining his guilt or innocence. Following consideration of all relevant matters, only a criminal court has the power to either uphold or overturn Mr al-Megrahi's conviction.

"It remains open for relatives of Mr al-Megrahi or, potentially, relatives of the Lockerbie bombing victims, to ask the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer the case to the court for a further appeal and as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice made clear to Parliament on 29 February 2012, the Scottish Government would be entirely comfortable if that were to happen.

"In relation to the reporting of Mr MacAskill to the IAP, the Cabinet Secretary has not had any involvement in decisions made by the Crown Office and the police in relation to their consideration of the al-Megrahi case nor their ongoing investigation into the Lockerbie bombing. Indeed, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice is not a prosecutor."

A Crown Office spokesman: "The allegations made by Justice for Megrahi are being considered by DCC Shearer in accordance with due process.

"It is absolutely false that Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have instructed DCC Shearer not to investigate any of their allegations. It would be inappropriate to offer further comment at this stage."