Lockerbie: 25 years on - a message from Justice for Megrahi

[What follows is the text of a message sent yesterday to Justice for Megrahi  signatory members and supporters by JFM’s secretary, Robert Forrester:]

On 21 December 1988, Europe was subject to its most notorious peacetime assault. In a matter of moments, the Lockerbie atrocity took 270 lives. All our hearts go out in love and comradeship to those the victims left behind as they remember their losses of a quarter of a century ago.

At Kamp van Zeist in 2001, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted for the villainy behind Pan Am 103. In 2009, his second appeal supported by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) was dropped against a background of arguably dubious political double dealing which secured his repatriation to Libya and his family due to his terminal medical condition. He died in 2012, without having succeeded in clearing his name.

As one of the country’s most renowned political and legal figures has put it: “There is not a lawyer in Scotland who believes he was guilty.” In 2011, a leading Scottish newspaper’s poll found that 52% of Scots agreed there should be an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing while 34% disagreed and 14% were unsure. A petition for an inquiry has been before the Scottish Parliament for three years now calling for such an inquiry. The petition continues to receive unanimous parliamentarian support.  Allegations of criminality against police, forensic and Crown officials have been sidelined by the Scottish police and the Crown Office since August of this year because it is claimed that the allegations conflict with the Crown’s attempts to shore up the indefensible. Would the Crown Office, Police Scotland and the FBI be going on trips to Libya and Malta in their futile and secretive attempts to maintain the charade of implicating further Libyan nationals 25 years after the event were it not for the pressure they have found themselves under due to the overwhelming evidence presented by activists? Doubtful. What seems to be being presented is a cynical blind for public consumption.

Precisely how is justice being served by such intransigence as is being displayed by both the Crown Office and the Scottish Government? What kind of justice is it that produces more victims than it started with? Many good and honest folk firmly believe that justice has not been either done or seen to be done in this tragic case. There has been no completion, nor has there been any finality. A resolution is required.  The hearts and minds of the bereaved, the al-Megrahi family and all who invest their trust and faith in our justice system must be satisfied.

In the last few weeks another flood of information further undermines the Crown Office and Scottish Government position. The Foreign Minister of Malta has declared his profound doubts over the conviction. Documentary evidence has been revealed which proves that a key witness in the case against Mr. Megrahi was paid $2 million by the American authorities. This mounting evidence, on top of the evidence the SCCRC relied on for the basis of the second appeal, only serves to prove that our justice system has failed.

A third appeal must be referred. Methodical and persistent pressure can rectify the mistakes of dubious forensics, a bungled investigation and a misguided judgement. Something is seriously wrong in this case. Something seems deeply rotten in a state when public officials attempt to bluster their way out of having to deal with mass murder and a deranged court process to preserve a fantasy of reputation and as a result risk allowing those who may have committed this gross act to escape justice.

As the 25th anniversary of the Lockerbie tragedy approaches and the legacy of Nelson Mandela unfolds we demand no retribution or vengeance, we do not even seek to attribute blame, we simply ask that those who profess to serve justice do so without fear, favour or prejudice.

Signatory members of Justice for Megrahi

Ms Kate Adie (Former Chief News Correspondent for BBC News).

Mr John Ashton (Author of Scotland’s Shame and Megrahi: You are my Jury and Co- author of Cover Up of Convenience).

Mr Mikhail Basmadjian (Actor, Malta).

Mr David Benson (Actor/author of the play Lockerbie: Unfinished Business).

Mrs Jean Berkley (Mother of Alistair Berkley: victim of Pan Am 103).

Mr Peter Biddulph (Lockerbie tragedy researcher).

Mr Benedict Birnberg (Retired senior partner Birnberg Peirce & Partners).

Professor Robert Black QC (‘Architect’ of the Kamp van Zeist Trial).

Mr Christopher Brookmyre (Novelist).

Mr Paul Bull (Close friend of Bill Cadman: killed on Pan Am 103).

Ms Julia Calvert (Actress and creative director, Malta).

Mr Manuel Cauchi (Actor, Malta).

Professor Noam Chomsky (Human rights, social and political commentator).

Mr Tam Dalyell (UK MP: 1962-2005. Father of the House: 2001-2005).

Christina Dunwoodie (Soprano and opera director).

Mr Ian Ferguson (Co-author of: Cover Up of Convenience).

Dr David Fieldhouse (Police surgeon present at the Pan Am 103 crash site).

Mr Robert Forrester (Justice for Megrahi Committee).

Ms Christine Grahame MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament).

Mr Ian Hamilton QC (Advocate, author and former university rector).

Mr Ian Hislop (Editor of Private Eye).

Fr Pat Keegans (Lockerbie parish priest on 21st December 1988).

Ms A L Kennedy (Author).

Dr Morag Kerr (Justice for Megrahi Committee and author of Adequately Explained by Stupidity?).

Mr Andrew Killgore (Former US Ambassador to Qatar).

Mr Adam Larson (Editor and proprietor of The Lockerbie Divide).

Mr Aonghas MacNeacail (Poet and journalist).

Mr Eddie McDaid (Lockerbie commentator).

Mr Rik McHarg (Communications hub coordinator: Lockerbie crash sites).

Mr Iain McKie (Retired Superintendent of Police).

Mr Marcello Mega (Journalist covering the Lockerbie incident).

Ms Heather Mills (Reporter for Private Eye).

Mr Alan Montanaro (Actor and drama school principal, Malta).

Rev’d John F Mosey (Father of Helga Mosey: victim of Pan Am 103).

Ms Denise Mulholland (Actress, Malta).

Mr Len Murray (Retired solicitor).

Mr Alan Paris (Actor and creative director, Malta).

Mr Denis Phipps (Aviation security expert).

Mr John Pilger (Campaigning human rights journalist).

Mr Steven Raeburn (Former editor of The Firm).

Dr Tessa Ransford OBE  (Poetry Practitioner and Adviser).

Mr James Robertson (Author).

Mr Mike Ross (Photographer and designer, Malta).

Dr David Stevenson (Retired medical specialist and Lockerbie commentator).

Dr Jim Swire (Father of Flora Swire: victim of Pan Am 103).

Sir Teddy Taylor (UK MP: 1964-2005. Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland).

Mr George Thomson (Private investigator).

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner).

Mr Terry Waite CBE (Former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury and hostage negotiator).

Mr Simon Walker (Close friend of Joyce Dimauro: victim of 103).

Deceased members of Justice for Megrahi

Mr Moses Kungu (Lockerbie Councillor in 1988).

Mr Jock Thomson QC (Former police officer and senior prosecutor. Latterly criminal defence advocate).

Anger that Malta was so unfairly involved

[I am grateful to George Thomson for sending me the following reflections on his trip to Malta during which he conducted question and answer sessions with the audience following performances of the play The Lockerbie Bomber:]

First of all I thought that the play was fantastic.  I met the whole of the cast over a drink and it was great to hear that not all of them were believers in the case until they began their research for the play and now they are all fully on board and they say this adds to the passion which they clearly show in their acting.

Herman [Grech, the director of the play and also head of media for The Times of Malta] and his team were great and they made me very welcome.  We planned only to do a Q and A on the Friday, but that went down so well it was decided that we should repeat it on the final night. The play was performed to full houses on both nights with people disappointed at not being able to secure a ticket.

The questions were very good both nights and it shows that there is a burning interest and a certain amount of anger that Malta was so unfairly involved. Nobody out there believes that the bomb went on at Luqa.  In that area I was able to give Morag's new book some publicity. [RB: Dr Morag Kerr, Adequately Explained by Stupidity?: Lockerbie, Luggage and Lies, due to be published on 21 December 2013.]

We were also approached by the head of a local well-known film production company who expressed an interest in doing something on the case.

Jim Swire obviously made a very big impression during his recent visit the locals took him to their hearts and he was the main topic of many conversations I had.

Herman and his team intend to keep up the pressure on the Maltese Government and soon they will run a big piece on the Gauci payments.

British friend of Megrahi: he deserved better

[This is the headline over an article by George Thomson published today on the LBC 97.3FM website.  It reads as follows:]

Abdelbaset al Megrahi was a good friend of mine.

The last time I saw him was at his house in Tripoli last December. I'm no doctor, but I could see he had only a short time to live.

He lay on his bed in very poor health and, while he was conscious, struggled to speak.

He gave me a ceremonial waistcoat as a gift, a gesture of kindness that was typical of the man.

But the waistcoat wasn't all. Megrahi left me with his dying wish that I help to continue the campaign that consumed him until his final breath - the fight to clear his name.

He asked me to make contact with Dr Jim Swire, the father of a girl who died in the Lockerbie bombing, who believes in Megrahi's innocence.

He wanted us to work together, with like-minded supporters, to try to overturn his conviction. He insisted, as do we, that the whole case against him was based on conjecture and planted evidence.

I gave this innocent man my assurance that I would everything I possibly could to pursue a posthumous pardon.

The Megrahi I saw last December was entirely different from the man I first met in 2003, a couple of years after he'd been convicted and sent to jail in Scotland.

I am a criminal investigator and had joined his defence team as we worked on his appeal.

At that time, Megrahi was barely interested. He was down and, generally, had no hope that he would ever prove his innocence.

That changed, however, as we began to gather the evidence that cast doubt on his conviction. He soon became an interested, demanding client.

He had 24-hour access to a phone in jail, which he'd use to contact the Libyan consulate in Glasgow, that would, in turn, patch him through to any number in the world.

He would call my number on a daily basis, hungry for information. I'm a keen fisherman and soon had to start taking a mobile out on the boat with me to take Megrahi's calls as he became consumed by the effort to clear his name.

The campaign energised him. It gave him a focus behind bars and improved his mood, generally.

Over time, he also began to engage with his surroundings, making the best of the life he had in jail.

One of the conditions of the treaty drawn up before his handover by the Libyans was that he would have access to Arabic TV channels whilst in jail.

That meant that he could watch British football on the television in his cell which, in turn, meant that he was Mr Popular anytime there was a Rangers or Celtic game on TV.

Fellow inmates were able to enjoy live football coverage courtesy of their Libyan neighbour. He was a Rangers supporter, incidentally.

Not that he wasn't tuned into the potential hazards of prison life. He was given a visiting room to himself whenever I, or my colleagues, went to see him.

One day there was the sound of a commotion outside the door. We didn't know what was happening and, quick as a flash, Megrahi jumped out of his seat and stood behind me, for protection.

The panic soon ended, however, when it turned out to be a scuffle between two wardens who had argued over who should close the door to the visiting area.

It was around 2005 that he began to complain of pains in his stomach and of acid. He put it down to a poor prison diet.

Looking back, that was probably the initial symptoms of the prostate cancer that eventually killed him.

The subsequent demise of an old friend saddens me greatly. His conviction and sentence angers me, as it does others who firmly believe in his innocence.

Abdelbaset al Megrahi was a good man who deserved better, much better.

Megrahi close to death, says member of defence team

[The following is an excerpt from a report published today on the website of The Courier, a newspaper circulating in the Dundee, Tayside and Fife areas.  It reads in part:]

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is ''slipping away'' but remains confident that he will be cleared after his ''imminent'' death, a close friend has said.

Fife man George Thomson said Megrahi's family had gathered round his sick bed and were preparing for his passing.

Megrahi, who marked his 60th birthday on Sunday, is being aided by morphine as he attempts to quell the pain of prostate cancer.

The last of his British friends to visit Megrahi in Libya, Mr Thomson said few of the birthday gifts he will have received would mean as much to him as the keepsake he gave to the convict when he visited in December — a tea towel with Scots words on it.

The 66-year-old, who worked on the Libyan's defence team, revealed how Megrahi's heartbroken wife Aisha comforted their Scottish visitor as he almost broke down after seeing his old friend ravaged by cancer.

Mr Thomson, from Burntisland, was hit by the disease around the same time as Megrahi, but has battled back to health.

''When I arrived he (Megrahi) was asleep and mumbling prayers to himself,'' he said.

''I was very upset by how he looked. The last time I'd seen him was when he was still in Greenock Prison. He was playing football and looking healthy.

''His wife saw how shaken I was and she came over and put her arm around me.''

When Megrahi woke up Mr Thomson gave him the jokey tea towel, covered in dialect like 'glaikit', 'crabbit' and 'gallus'.

His face lit up,'' said Mr Thomson, a former police officer who worked as an investigator for two of Megrahi's solicitors.

''He has a great affection for the people of Scotland and he used Scots words like 'scunnered' to sum up his mood and 'dreich' to describe his environment. He liked me to teach him a new word every week.'' [RB: This last was a word that Mr Megrahi used in greeting me on the one occasion that I met him in HMP Greenock.]

Mr Thomson also taught football fan Megrahi about the Old Firm rivalry and convinced the Libyan to become a Rangers fan. (…)

Mr Thomson describes Megrahi as a placid character — but said he is capable of ''fiery'' outbursts due to his frustration at being jailed for a crime he still insists he did not commit.

''I saw him with tears streaming down his face. He would ask why they had blamed him for such an atrocity which involved women, children — innocent people.

''However, he had a sense of humour too and enjoyed special birthday cards we made up for him, with in-jokes about the case.''

Mr Thomson is convinced of Megrahi's innocence and talked of his hopes that the ''truth'' will eventually come out.

''He was always very thoughtful about sending birthday and Christmas cards to others and I got a card from him when my mother passed away,'' he continued.

''It is agonising for me to see an innocent man condemned as a terrorist. I have no doubt he didn't do it."

He added: ''When I saw him he was excited about new evidence casting doubt on claims that a timer fragment allegedly from the bomb came from a batch that was sold to Libya. He felt it was a key breakthrough.

''I only hope there can be a public inquiry into his wrongful conviction.

''As I left, knowing it was the last time I would see him, he gave me a gift of a beautifully-made Arabic waistcoat, which I treasure.''

Megrahi interviewer writes exclusively for The Lockerbie Case

[George Thomson has provided, exclusively to this blog, the following account of his recent meeting with Abdelbaset Megrahi:]

As you are probably aware some of this mornings newspapers are carrying a story of my recent trip to Libya where I managed to meet up with Baset on two occasions.  I was shocked and I must admit a bit distressed by what I found. He is in a very poor state of health and I have no doubt in my mind that he has not got long on this earth.  It will come as a surprise to many to learn that Baset possesses a strong sense of humour and I took him out a gift of a tea towel which had a lot of the old Scottish words on it like glaikit and crabbit. He used to try and learn one word every visit I made to him in prison. I was not slow to point out to him that I had found him to be crabbit on many of the occasions I visited him in jail. He responded by saying to me "George, I have a new word, 'I am knackered'" [RB: For those requiring a translation of these Scots words, resort should be made to the online Dictionary of the Scots Language.]

The reason I was in Tripoli was in connection with the making of a follow-up documentary to Lockerbie -  The Pan Am Bomber in which much of the new evidence discovered by the SCCRC is investigated.  We were hopeful to get a filmed interview with him which would be broadcast as part of the new documentary which will be screened in conjunction with the release of John Ashton's book sometime early in the New Year.

As it happened Baset was to ill to be bothered with a television crew setting up in his bedroom to which he is now confined, but he was keen to say something about his case before he dies and so he agreed to be interviewed by me on camera on condition that I operated the camera on my own.  Having never held a television camera in my life I was a wee bit dubious as to how that would be possible, but it worked out not too badly and he was able to get some things off his chest.

Because of contractual agreements I am not at liberty to disclose the parts of the interview where he talks about the new evidence which will be revealed in the book and in the film, but he was very keen to say something about the way he was treated during his time here in Scotland.  In particular on camera he thanks the Scottish public for the kindness shown to him and the support he has received for his case.  He also thanks the staff and prisoners of Barlinnie and Greenock Prison for the general way in which he was treated while in custody.

One of my questions to him was "If Tony Gauci was here tonight what message would you have for him?"  With obvious passion he replied, "I would tell him that I have never in my life been in his shop and I have never ever bought any clothes from him, I would tell him that before I saw him in Holland I had never set eyes on him before. I would tell him that he was a simple man who would have to answer to his God and my God one day for what he has done."  Baset went further at this point but I am prohibited from revealing the whole of his response to my question for the time being.

I asked him what he thought of the SCCRC report and he said that in many area they had done a very good job, but in others they had not addressed many of the points that they should have.  He blames the SCCRC for not properly investigating some of the allegation of malpractice by the police and he goes on to identify two officers in particular who he particulary blames for malpractice. He claims that in all Gauci met with the police 55 times, but there exists only a handful of statements from him.

Off camera we talked about the continuing support he receives and in particular from this blog.  He is well aware of the efforts of Bob and many of the regular contributors to the blog and he sends his thanks.  He is no longer able to follow things on a regular basis.

Of particular interest to myself, he formally released me from a confidentiality contract which has been in place for some time now and which has prevented me from answering some of the points made by certain contributors who pop up now and again and talk drivel.

On Baset's behalf I would challenge any of the following such as Mr Marquise, Harry Bell, John Crawford to face me across a table in open debate about the quality of the evidence.  My door is open any time they want to call.

Finally the main purpose of him giving the final interview on camera and the generating of the press interest of today was to hammer home a final request from Baset to be allowed to now die in peace without intrusion from the world media or any other parties. You only have to see him to appreciate how really sick and weak he is now. I only hope that his plea is granted.

[What follows is the text of a comment posted in response to this blog post:]

As it happens, I was working in the education department in HMP Barlinnie during part of Megrahi's incarceration there. I obviously can't speak for them all but I can confirm that such staff as I spoke to who had any involvement with him took their responsibility seriously. It is gracious of a deeply-wronged man to find time to thank them. Thanks for the piece.

‘These are my last words: I am innocent’

[This is the headline over a report (behind the paywall) in today's Scottish edition of The Times. The article, under the byline of Marcello Mega and the paper's Scotland editor Magnus Linklater, gives an account of a very recent visit to Abdelbaset Megrahi by George Thomson (who presented the Aljazeera documentary on the Lockerbie case broadcast in June 2011). The report reads in part:]

The Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has given what he says is his last interview, using it to protest his innocence.

Speaking from his sick bed in Tripoli, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, insisted that he was not involved in the attack on Pan Am 103 in December 1988 that killed 270 people. He also accused a key witness, whose evidence helped to convict him, of lying in court.

The interview was published as relatives of the American and Scottish victims gathered yesterday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the atrocity. At the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Frank Mulholland, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, stood alongside US officials, including Eric Holder, the US Attorney-General, and Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, to lay a wreath at the Lockerbie cairn.

They were joined by Ali Aujali, the Libyan ambassador to the United States, a mark of the new relationship between Tripoli and the West, and also a signal that new evidence may be produced in the search for the original instigators of the Pan Am bombing. (...)

A friend, George Thomson, who conducted the interview on Saturday, described him as ravaged by the cancer and very weak. “For any doubters who may think he is not ill, you only have to look at the man and how wasted he is to see he has not got long in this life,” said Mr Thomson on his return.

However, al-Megrahi still had enough strength to deliver a personal challenge to the Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, whose identification was instrumental in securing his conviction. Clothes from Mr Gauci’s shop were found, along with a tiny fragment of the timing device that triggered the bomb, in a briefcase among the wreckage of the plane.

Asked by Mr Thomson, a former police officer who was part of his defence team, what he would say to Mr Gauci if he met him again, al-Megrahi said: “If I had the chance to see him, I would tell him that I never ever in my entire life bought clothes from his shop, I never bought clothes from him. He dealt with me very wrongly, I have never seen him in my life before he came to the court. I am facing my death and I swear by my God, which is my God and Gauci’s God, I swear with him I have never been in that shop or buy any clothing from Gauci. He has to believe this because we are all together when we die.”

It is not suggested that the claims against Mr Gauci have any basis in fact. [RB: Well done, Magnus Linklater! The Times's lawyers will be proud of you!]

Mr Thomson filmed the 20-minute interview as part of a documentary about Lockerbie to be broadcast in February. The Libyan revealed that he has co-operated in writing a book with an investigative journalist, John Ashton, that will contain “dramatic” new evidence about his case.

Scottish prosecutors remain convinced that the evidence on which he was convicted is substantial, but al-Megrahi said: “I want people to read the book and use their brain, not hearts, and make judgment. Information is not from me, not from lawyers, not from the media, but experts who deal with criminal law and science, and they will be surprised when they read it. It will clear my name.”

Al-Megrahi is convinced that US agencies were determined to secure a conviction. “I am facing my death any time, and I don’t want to accuse anyone, or any country. But the Americans led the way,” he said.

He also revealed that he had been paid a visit a few days earlier by Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the atrocity, and who has long campaigned to clear his name. He said that he had confided in Dr Swire the details of new discoveries about the timing fragment made by investigators still working on his behalf.

He claimed that police were aware that there was another witness to the purchase of clothing in the Maltese shop, who might have helped to clear his name — Mr Gauci’s brother, Paul. It has always been believed that Mr Gauci was the only witness who could identify the buyer of the clothes.

“The commission met with Gauci. At the end of the statement they said he was nervous. He told them that when the man who bought the clothes left the shop, his brother Paul came to the shop, and took the parcels from the man and took them to the taxi he was taking. This information has never been raised before. There is an opportunity to have another physical witness who could have identified the man, yet they kept the brother out of it.”

Al-Megrahi ended the interview by saying he had a message for the international community, especially the people of Scotland and the UK: “I am about to die and I’d ask now to be left in peace to die with my family, and they be left in peace by the media as well. I will not be giving any more interviews, and no more cameras will be allowed into my home ... I am an innocent man, and the book will clear my name.”

[A longer and more personal article by Marcello Mega about George Thomson's visit to Megrahi appears in today's Scottish edition of The Sun. A further article appears in the Daily Mail. A Maltese perspective is to be found in this article in Malta Today; and a Libyan perspective in this article in The Tripoli Post.]

Police officer identified by Bella Caledonia is not "the golfer"

[With his permission, I reproduce here an email that I received this afternoon from George Thomson:]

I follow your blog with keen interest.  Normally I remain on the sidelines which can be frustrating.  In relation to the allegation that [******] was the Golfer, I am in a position to refute that notion completely.
  

It was I who first approached the Golfer having been pointed in his direction by another officer.  I took the initial statements from the Golfer and was in contact with him for some time.

At our very first meeting I gave him my word that I would never reveal his identity and I have always stood by that promise. 
 

I think that it is fair however to break cover a wee bit in this instance and come to the recue of Mr [******].  I can state categorically that he was not the Golfer. 

[The relevant page appears now (after the appearance of this blog post) to have been removed from the Bella Caledonia website.]

Scottish Sunday Express on the Aljazeera documentary

[What follows is the text of a report by Ben Borland that appeared in yesterday's Scottish edition of the Sunday Express:]

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted on the basis that he bought clothes from Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, including a grey men’s Slalom shirt. The clothing was then packed in a suitcase with the bomb that brought down Pan Am 103, killing 270 on December 21, 1988.

The charred remains of the shirt were crucial to the prosecution, as a forensic scientist found a piece of circuit board from the bomb embedded in the collar which first led investigators to Libya, and ultimately Megrahi.

However, it has now emerged that clothing manufacturers in Malta told Scottish police in January 1990 that the shirt recovered from the crash site was in fact a boy’s size.

Campaigners have stepped up calls for an inquiry after the claims surfaced in a documentary broadcast on Thursday by Arab TV network Al Jazeera but seen by only a handful of Scottish viewers. [RB: The programme can be watched on You Tube here.]

In it, Scotland’s former Lord Advocate also accepted that Gauci, the main prosecution witness, was paid $2million to give evidence against Megrahi. Scottish private investigator George Thomson tracked down shirt manufacturers Tonio Caruana and Godwin Navarro in Malta. They recalled being shown a fragment of shirt by DC John Crawford and telling him, independently of each other, that it was a boy’s shirt

Speaking to the Sunday Express yesterday, Mr Navarro, 76, said: “I stand by my statement. I believe it is a boy’s shirt because of the size of the pocket and the width of the placket, where the button holes are.”

Retired Strathclyde Police superintendent Iain McKie, now a campaigner against miscarriages of justice, said: “The fact that the witnesses say it was a boy’s shirt and not an adult shirt seems to me quite critical.”

He said that if it was a boy’s shirt, then it cannot be the same one purchased from Gauci by the man he later identified as Megrahi – destroying the “evidence chain”.

Supt McKie said the latest claims added weight to calls for the Scottish Government to set up an independent inquiry into Megrahi’s conviction.

He added: “The whole chain of evidence has been totally and utterly shattered. It is looking more and more like the police came to a conclusion and then looked for evidence.”

The programme, Lockerbie: The Pan Am Bomber, also alleged that a piece of the shirt had been altered, as it is clearly a different shape in two police photographs.

However a spokesman for the Crown Office said yesterday that the matter was easily explained. He said: “The fragment of cloth alleged to have been removed from the shirt was examined by the scientists and is referred to in the forensic science report. It is clearly a separate fragment.”

But Fife-based Mr Thomson stood by his claims. He said: “In January 1990 they realise that what they have is a fragment of a boy’s shirt, while Gauci is saying he sold a gents’ shirt.

“The reason for people saying this is mainly down to the size of the pocket and lo and behold the next thing a fragment of the pocket has been removed.”

The documentary is the latest foreign TV show to expose doubts in Scotland’s handling of the case.

Dutch filmmaker Gideon Levy won the Prix Europa for the best current affairs programme of 2009 for Lockerbie Revisited, which has never been broadcast in Britain.