Original subtitles

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

How's Witness Protection?

Yeah, it's good. How's it going with the families?

The families' civil suits against Pan Am have just started.

Bob Monetti and his family just won theirs.

This is PT/35.

We looked at it under magnification and found this.

What the hell is MEBO?

HE SPEAKS GERMAN

He's admitted to making the timers and selling them to the ESO.

Do you recognise the person in that sketch?

I think that could be a man I know as Abdelbaset.

Let's get this over to our shopkeeper in Malta

and see if he actually recognises him as the shopper.

I think it could be him.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Senior intelligence officer in the ESO.

You'll find two more names in there - Ahmed Khalifa Abdusamad

and Abu Agila Masud.

Masud flew into Malta on the seventh of December.

And what about Abdusamad?

He did visit for one night later that month.

The number that Abdusamad called from the hotel belongs to

a Libyan man named Lamin Khalifah Fhimah.

He was recently a station manager for Libyan Airlines.

- The diary says... - "Get tags for Abdelbaset."

- Luggage tags. - The CIA have an asset.

His name is Giaka, a Libyan ESO agent.

And what does he want?

Safe passage for him and his wife.

Did you see Fhimah at the airport in December?

I did see Fhimah with a suitcase.

It was like this one.

Look at this, Megrahi's card from

when he arrived in Malta is filled out

with the same block capitals

as Abdusamad's later that month.

That's why we haven't been able to find a photo for Abdusamad.

He is Megrahi.

What do you think, Dick?

I think we've got him.

Today, almost three years after the Lockerbie air disaster,

Britain and America pointed the finger of guilt at Libya.

The evidence is overwhelming according to the

President Bush's administration.

Gaddafi insists the two Libyan suspects named as the bombers

are innocent and a fair trial would be impossible in America or Britain.

The UN Security Council will move to sanctions.

Almost all neighbouring countries are

refusing Libya permission to fly its aircraft into their airspace.

Our nation will never stop pursuing justice.

Mr Blair is facing questions

over the Lockerbie investigation.

The South African President, Nelson Mandela,

backs Libyan demands for the trial to be held in a neutral country.

Britain and the United States have promised to back

the lifting of sanctions against Libya

as soon as the men are handed over.

We are on the way

to resolving all the outstanding issues.

So, the years of diplomatic efforts have finally paid off

with the handover of the two Libyan suspects.

The two men were committed for further examination

and remanded in custody at HM Prison Zeist.

Pierre Salinger for ABC

is the only reporter with access to interview the two men

accused of murdering 270 people.

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah's diary is key for US Authorities.

Allegedly, Fhimah made a note in this diary to remind him

to get hold or Air Malta luggage tags,

one of which was used to label the suitcase containing the bomb.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi stands accused of masterminding

the bombing of Pan Am 103,

a charge he strongly refutes.

The accusation is wrong.

Truly.

I am DCS Tom McCulloch.

Many of you remember my predecessors John Orr and Stuart Henderson.

I am honoured to be following in their footsteps

as SIO on the case as we approach the trial.

A trial that I am aware you have waited a long, long time for.

The Foreign Secretary has recently stated that there was no reasonable

prospect of the accused being

delivered for trial in Scotland.

But he thinks there is a chance that they will be

delivered for trial in a third country,

as many families here have long

proposed as the only solution.

What we have arrived at is a plan

that the trial will take place in

a Scottish court in the Netherlands.

Sorry.

Why the Netherlands?

As the host nation of the International Court of Justice

and the International Criminal Court,

the Netherlands was suggested

by Libya and others.

We're letting Libya pick the venue?

With just two men standing trial

to represent a whole state?

Our goal was indictments against all involved...

..but what we know, is different than what we can prove.

We've waited 11 years for a trial,

and this is the best that we get?

The rule of law is all we have.

What's the alternative?

We resort to revenge and retaliation, and more Lockerbies.

I agree.

To have a trial date and a venue set is an achievement,

and it is your achievement.

The work of families in Britain

and America has made Libya realise that there will be consequences

for the mass murder of your loved ones, friends and neighbours.

The UN has implemented the fiercest sanctions possible.

Your lobbying efforts have effectively ground

the Libyan economy to a halt

and forced Mr Gaddafi to the table.

The trial may be in the Netherlands

but it'll still be under Scottish law.

It will be a little part of Holland that is briefly Scotland.

There'll be a Scottish jury?

No. A panel of three judges.

The Lord Advocate recognised that it's unreasonable to ask

a Scottish jury to spend many months away from their families.

Yet you're asking us to.

My wife Linda died never knowing the truth of what happened to her own son.

I am very sorry to hear that. Truly.

It makes it even more important

that the rest of us be there to participate.

Thank you.

My son would have been 30 this year.

Might've had his own kids.

Your family's determination over this past decade,

it's been inspiring.

I want to be there to look those men in the eye,

but I don't see how we can attend a long trial in Europe.

Yeah, I mean, financially it's impossible.

Most families in our group are just ordinary people, trying to get by.

Look, it's a long shot,

but I've been working on a plan.

And it's one I hope to take to the Attorney General.

THEY TALK QUIETLY

- Hi. - Mr Marquise.

Thanks for flying in at such short notice.

Oh, not at all. It's a critical moment. Hi.

Alastair Campbell QC.

This is Alan Turnbull QC.

Dick Marquise, FBI.

Right. We all know why we're here.

We have a witness problem.

Gauci has pulled out.

He says his family has suffered enough already with all

the attention the case has brought.

Do we have a legal avenue?

Well, the UK doesn't have an agreement with Malta

to compel witnesses, no.

So, what are our options?

Make him feel safe enough to change his mind and travel willingly,

but at this stage, that is a big ask.

So where are we with the other key witnesses,

Bollier and Giaka?

Ultimately, we just don't know which way Bollier will go.

Well, he knows that Gaddafi's regime is ruthless.

If Bollier goes back on the testimony

he gave in the Swiss Court, then Giaka becomes even more key.

He's our inside man at the airport linking Fhimah to the plot.

But credibility is always a stretch with paid informants.

Well, regardless, I'm not entirely sure

that Giaka's going to testify, either.

What? Is he scared of character assassination?

Well, that, and actual assassination.

His wife, kids.

Even though they're in your federal WITSEC?

You've never lost a witness?

You secure Giaka.

We'll do everything we can to salvage the situation with Mr Gauci.

Copy.

The fight to protect witnesses continues.

And now you're joining it.

Our job on a major murder case or big drugs bust is simple...

DOOR OPENS

..to make sure those that tell the truth do not suffer for it.

So any questions, guys?

OK, that's it for the day.

Thank you.

DCS McCulloch.

Oh, I know, sir.

How's preparation for the trial going?

We need your help with Mr Gauci in Malta.

OK. He's refusing to testify?

He needs reassurance that we can properly protect him and his family.

John Orr always said your WITSEC expertise would come in handy

if we ever made it to trial.

He said that we could always rely on you.

Is that still the case?

Absolutely, sir.

This takes us up to zero.

- So, we have to find a way... - How was Scotland?

Complicated.

What? How did you get into the building?

I said we had a meeting.

- And do we have a meeting? - Well, we do now.

What's this?

It's a proposal we drew up with Attorney General Reno

at the Office for Victims of Crime

to fund families' travel to the trial.

Travel?

Kathryn, this...this is a lot of families,

especially for a trial that could last months.

I mean, this would be millions of dollars.

I know. It's a tough ask.

And what's this?

It is a second proposal for families who can't travel.

So, I'm pushing for a video feed into remote viewing sites that we'd

set up in New York, London, DC, and Dumfries, which is near Lockerbie.

The Scottish legal system can be very specific.

Cameras in the courtroom's not really their style.

It's a first, but I'm already in touch with their Lord Advocate.

'Course you are.

Just don't want you to get your hopes up.

I thank you in advance for your support. Call me tomorrow.

- Mm-hm. - Mm-hm.

We're managing the witness problem as best we can.

So, what else can sink our case?

Well, we need to prove beyond reasonable doubt

that Megrahi is Abdusamad.

Mm. And what's the defence's strategy going to be?

Er, they may try and bring up Jaafar's name again.

They'll certainly argue that Megrahi wasn't in Malta at the time.

And that he only had one passport.

We have Megrahi's handwriting on the Abdusamad embarkation card.

Yes. But what we really need is the Abdusamad passport itself,

which proves that Megrahi was in Malta on the 21st of December,

travelling on a false passport.

HE SIGHS

My team in Libya raided Megrahi's house.

- And? - We found no sign of it.

But the investigation continues.

Right, well, let us know if there's a breakthrough.

Absolutely.

Tony Gauci?

Who are you? What do you want?

I'm Ed McCusker.

I run Scotland's witness protection programme.

He's not a witness any more!

- You are...? - Paul Gauci.

Tony's brother.

The stress from your case already killed our father.

You want him dead, too?

PHONE RINGS

Go.

I'm sorry to hear about your father.

Hello. Mary's House.

Hmm.

May 3rd's the day most of the families never thought they'd see, Tony.

11 years, 200 witnesses,

half a million pages of evidence,

all building to this.

Look, I can understand

if you're nervous about the consequences of testifying.

If you've been threatened, intimidated,

you need adequate protection.

I have protection.

OK, easy there.

A Libyan man came into the shop last time,

looking around for a long time.

OK, well, you're a shop...?

He didn't buy anything. He wasn't here to shop.

Tony, even if you don't take the stand,

you need a proper security plan,

and one that doesn't involve antique weapons. OK?

I can start small - better locks, CCTV cameras.

SIS are keeping a close eye on Malta for us.

They said there's no serious threat right now. My point is,

we're committed to doing everything necessary to keep you safe.

Yes, but what about Megrahi and Fhimah?

They're in a purpose-built, high-security jail attached to the court.

No interaction with you.

Armed guards.

Bomb-detection stations.

Sniffer dogs. The full business.

You wouldn't be called straight away.

You've got time.

Think about it.

We don't have many visitors.

But you're happy here?

We are safe here.

But we won't be safe if I testify in court.

What you say on the stand is up to you,

but, er, we do need you to testify.

Testify to what?

I can tell the court that Megrahi

and Fhimah were both Libyan ESO agents, but everybody knows that!

I saw them with the suitcase at the airport but...

..the media are saying I am eyewitness to the whole bombing!

It's not true.

I'm set up to fail!

BOYS SHOUT AND LAUGH

The judges still need to hear from you.

- I'm not sure... - Majid.

- I'm not sure I... - Majid, you have to listen to me. OK.

Libya would let me stay silent.

Why did you leave Libya?

I don't remember.

I do.

You were scared.

That's Gaddafi's version of silence.

You know what I think of Gaddafi's regime.

Yes, I do.

But the world doesn't.

I, er...

I would need my face hidden.

In court?

Yeah, we can do that.

My voice - only my voice.

Whatever you need.

What matters is that you're heard.

You want funding for every American family that wants to travel?

No. We want funding for all families, anywhere in the world,

who want to travel to the trial, or to the designated viewing sites.

You persuaded the Lord Advocate to permit a remote feed?

We did.

Cameras will be allowed in a Scottish courtroom

for the first time.

I knew you were a fighter the first time I met you, Kathryn.

Thanks for fighting with us.

OK. I just spoke with McCulloch.

The defence have submitted the passport in the name

of Abdusamad, and McCulloch's team have found the Libyan

passport official who issued it.

El Gharour.

So could he back up Giaka's claim that Megrahi

and Fhimah were ESO operatives?

Potentially.

The question is how do we get him to testify?

Why would Gaddafi allow it?

Well, he allowed, eventually, these two defendants to stand trial.

So, he has a history when it comes to...

..offering sacrificial lambs.

He'd still rather spare them.

Complete humiliation of the West.

Vindication of all his denials.

It's worth a try.

It's the biggest mass murder trial in British history,

with more than 1,200 witnesses.

The world's press have descended on this disused airbase

to report the trial.

And this morning, relatives of victims have been

arriving from America.

These people have spent 12 years waiting for explanations,

12 years praying for justice.

This is why we're here. This is

my daughter, this is Theo Cohen.

But they're frustrated that only two men are on trial.

I may be able to see these guys go to jail

and live long enough to see them get out.

And that's not justice!

What is really important is to penalise the government

and the people who sent them to do mass murder.

MELEE OF VOICES

Now, you can step out at any time.

And one of my team will take you back to the family area

or wherever you need to go.

That is Megrahi's lead QC - Taylor.

And that one?

Fhimah's lead counsel, Mr Keen.

And the witnesses?

They can't be present in the courtroom until they're called.

COURT ATTENDEES MURMUR

All rise!

I call upon the Clerk of the Court to read the indictment.

The charges against you are,

one, between first of January 1985 and 21st December 1988,

both being members of, the Libyan Intelligence Services,

and being respectively the head of security of Libyan Arab Airlines,

and station manager of Libyan Arab Airlines,

you did conspire together and with others to further

the purposes of the Libyan Intelligence Services

by criminal means, namely, the destruction of a civil aircraft

and the murder of its occupants.

And in pursuance of said conspiracy,

11 residents of Lockerbie were killed, and you did murder them.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi how do you plead, guilty or not guilty?

I am not guilty.

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah,

how do you plead, guilty or not guilty?

Not guilty.

It is our position, my Lords, that Mr Megrahi is not a member

of the Libyan secret service, and was not, in any event, in Malta

when the bomb was allegedly loaded there.

We will show Your Lordships in the coming weeks

that my client, Mr Fhimah, was an ordinary employee of Libyan Airlines

in Malta, and that no credible or reliable witness can demonstrate

he had knowledge of any plot to bring harm to Pan Am 103.

A momentous day for relatives of the 270 people killed

when Pan Am 103 was blown up.

Tomorrow's evidence will begin with the moment Pan Am flight

103 left the radar screen.

The verdict will come next year.

Mr Feraday, over the many years you have carried out

forensic examinations of explosive devices,

have you built up an expertise in their use and effect?

I've looked at every explosive device with an electronic context

that has been found over the last 30 years on the UK mainland.

I've examined perhaps 1,000 devices.

Once you'd completed your examinations of the Toshiba

radio instruction manual fragments,

you said you worked with the FBI to identify another fragment,

which you determined to be part of the explosive device?

I refer you to Photograph 334.

This bomb-damaged fragment PT/35 is from a timer circuit board

found in the grey Slalom shirt.

Photograph 334 here shows it exactly as recovered

prior to sample removal.

And did you conduct any comparison exercises with the fragment?

Extensive comparison work, yes, sir.

And did you find and report on what a layman might call a match?

Lab men also call it a match.

The most fruitful comparison was with control

samples of MST-13 timers manufactured by MEBO.

MEBO being a company run by Mr Bollier,

who, we will hear, supplied timers to the first defendant.

I take objection, my Lords!

My apologies.

Mr Feraday, might you summarise your report on PT/35?

I concluded that the MEBO timer fragment had an intimate

involvement with the explosion.

I wrote in my notes, that along with the Semtex,

it represented the only piece of modification to the radio

necessary to convert it into a delayed-action bomb.

The weeks have turned into months here at Camp Zeist

in the Netherlands, where the Lockerbie trial continues.

Victims' families, have heard evidence from hundreds

of experts detailing the immediate aftermath of the bombing,

and the painstaking operation of searching

and collecting the vast quantity of wreckage from the plane.

I do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare

the evidence I shall give shall be the true, the whole true,

and nothing but the true.

MAN COUGHS

Mr Bollier,

you "don't recall" when you began your company with Mr Meister?

Well, I believe it was in 1970.

Did you own a radio ship back then?

Yes. Correct.

Did you sell that radio ship?

Yes. To the Libyan Broadcasting Company.

And did you move on from that

to supplying timer devices to Libyan Intelligence?

Mr Bollier, you heard my question?

That is correct.

Timers to Libya, yeah.

Was one of the Libyan Intelligence officers who paid you

for timers, Abdelbaset?

Yes.

A colleague of his was seeking

to rent office space from my company in Zurich.

Then, later, I met him again, in December 1988.

- In the weeks before Pan Am 103... - Yes.

Yes, I saw Abdelbaset again,

in Tripoli.

And have you seen Abdelbaset since?

Yes.

I see him today.

He's the first defendant sitting there.

The witness indicates Mr Megrahi.

Your Lordship, we will refer back to footage of Mr Salinger's

interview with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.

I couldn't recognise a timer, even if you give me one now.

I wouldn't know what it is

unless you told me.

Mr Bollier,

is this part of one of your timers?

Well, I can't be certain.

Mr Bollier, you have previously testified in a Swiss court

that this fragment of timer was

created by your company and sold to Libya.

Well, I am not sure.

How can I be sure that this is one of my timers?

Libya could be innocent.

I could be uninvolved.

The CIA should check.

MURMURS OF DISBELIEF

I believe you've had your own interactions with

the CIA, Mr Bollier?

You left a letter at

the Vienna Embassy on the 19th of January, 1989.

Well, er...

One moment please, Mr Bollier.

In it you stated that

you knew Libya to be responsible for the Pan Am attack.

Well... But...

A man in a...in a coat, a Mackintosh, made me write that letter.

Let me get this straight.

A mystery man

in a Mackintosh

told you to claim Libya bombed the plane?

He approached me one day,

encouraging me to...to write this fiction

to the embassy.

He didn't happen to have a trilby pulled down over his eyes, did he?

Wha...? What...? No.

He didn't.

Do you recall hearing zither music?

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Unbelievable.

The bereaved left court distressed tonight,

after evidence they said was hair-raising and chilling.

It may not have had

the dramatic impact of last week's evidence,

but victims' relatives listen to every word of today's testimony.

What we're sitting through,

we've been at this 11 and a half years.

They killed our children - we're not going away.

Look, guys, if there's any chance of you changing your minds

and helping bring justice to the families - I work for you, Tony,

I will keep you both safe.

I know what I'm asking is not easy.

You guys have got a lot of history here.

Yes. Yes, we do.

The only way for you to be completely safe

is witness protection.

And that means different country, and new names.

But our name is Gauci!

It was our father's name.

And what did it stand for?

Good, honest business.

Loyalty.

And conducting ourselves with honour.

Nothing else.

Paul...

..we will go to the Netherlands.

I will try to testify.

We'll go.

But if something happens that's dangerous

or different from what you promised,

we're finished.

We're gone.

OK.

Heavily guarded,

his identity concealed,

the Crown's key witness slipped into Camp Zeist this morning.

A CIA double agent who also worked for the Libyan Intelligence services,

Abdul Majid Giaka has been living in

a witness protection programme in the US for ten years,

waiting for his day in court.

Witness number 684.

Abdul Majid Abdul Razkaz Abdul-Salam Giaka.

Mr Giaka, what age are you?

Um, I am, er, 40 years old.

Born and brought up in Libya?

Yes. In Tripoli.

And did you attend university there?

Yes, I finished my studies in 1983,

and I began working in 1984.

For whom did you begin working?

The Jamahiriya Security Organisation.

The JSO, also known as the ESO.

And what type of organisation was that?

Libya's Intelligence agency.

I worked for them,

er, like many young people do.

Better than military service.

And when you moved to Malta,

were you still working in intelligence?

Yes, I took a job for Libyan Arab Airlines.

A cover job.

All of us in intelligence had cover jobs.

And what was your specific cover job?

I was made the assistant station manager in Luqa airport, Malta,

um, in the airline security section.

And who did you report to?

A more-senior intelligence officer -

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

His cover job was head of the airline security section,

and Mr Fhimah's job was our station manager.

So, you had the chance to observe Mr Megrahi and Mr Fhimah closely?

Yes.

I became concerned about what he and Mr Fhimah would do,

and my organisation's involvement in terrorism,

so I went to the US Embassy.

No further questions, Your Lordships.

Mr Giaka, to start quite simply,

what date was it in 1988 when you went into the US Embassy in Malta?

Er...

A Tuesday. August.

It was the 10th of August 1988,

if facts matter to you at all.

When you came to the Americans with your information,

you were living in a...a rundown little place, no?

It wasn't in bad shape.

Well, that's a matter of taste, I suppose.

Whereas now you've lived very comfortably in the US

for over nine years?

It's not hard to see why you might tell the Americans exciting

stories about explosives

and rush tags lying around in Mr Fhimah's desk,

or why you claimed to have met

a mystery associate of Mr Megrahi's, named Masud.

A man you have never even properly identified a picture of.

They have found no pictures of him.

Isn't this all a series of paid lies?

I, er...

My information has been...

Aren't you a liar, Mr Giaka?

My information has been consistent.

I went to the Americans before the plane was bombed,

to warn them.

I put it to you, Mr Giaka, that you were a low-level nobody,

poor of education and money, stuck in a nothing job

at an airline in Malta,

who realised that America could make anything possible for you,

provided you told them enough useful lies.

Does that sound accurate enough?

They undermined his credibility in there.

Made him look totally unreliable.

He was terrified.

Credibility is everything in a courtroom.

I mean, these judges expect witnesses that can back up

our claims that the defendants executed this plot together.

But now, we can't even definitively put Fhimah at the airport

- on the 21st. - Well, come on,

Fhimah's own diary...

No. The diary's not enough.

I mean, we have to show that any assistance

he was gave was directly related to a plot to blow up the plane.

I mean, these judges require absolute certainty.

The seasons may be changing,

but the trial at Camp Zeist continues.

Today, the court will hear from a Libyan government official

who is believed to have been responsible for issuing

passports to Libyan Intelligence officers, including Mr Megrahi.

Mr El Gharour, who is your employer?

The Libya National Passport Office.

You will see on your screen now

production number 1770.

Did you in fact issue this passport,

number 332351, for Mr Megrahi

under the name Ahmed Abdusamad?

I did issue this passport, yes,

on instructions of a letter from ESO.

A letter we see now, Mr El Gharour?

This is the letter. Yes.

Mr Megrahi had three passports valid at the same time,

under three different names,

including this one, which we can see was valid

from the 15th of June 1987 until the 14th June 1991.

Is it unusual for one person to be assigned three passports?

Senior Libyan Secret Service,

like Mr Megrahi, need a lot of passports.

Thank you.

Your Lordships, we refer you again to

Mr Salinger's interview with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.

I only have one passport.

One.

Tony, whatever they throw at you...

..just tell the truth.

Think about your father.

Make him proud.

Joe?

It's been a long time.

Ed McCusker. I didn't expect to see you.

I heard you'd been moved off the case.

Oh, right, yeah. No, I was.

Don't know, turns out I'm still a bit useful, which is nice.

How are you? This can't be easy.

Yeah, I'm OK.

Thanks for asking.

Take a seat over there.

Ed.

How are those girls of yours?

I mean, not really girls any more.

Yeah.

How did you get him here?

Tony's a good guy. He's an honest man.

- I'm going to sit down. - OK.

Mr Gauci, you are fluent in Arabic?

I...I don't understand very good Arabic, But I can...

Mr Gauci, I'm interested that you don't understand very good Arabic.

The man who came into your shop to buy clothes spoke in Arabic, no?

Arabic and Maltese.

Yet you understood his accent so well you could tell he was Libyan?

A lot of Libyans in the area.

Mr Gauci, would it be fair to say you have no definitive recollection

of the man you sold the clothes to - his accent, nor his appearance?

I do remember him. But, after all these years,

I can't remember everything.

Thank you for your honesty.

Let us talk about the day the Scots police arrived in your shop.

You mean my family's shop.

I worked hard for many years.

I do an honest job, for many years.

That is not in dispute, Mr Gauci.

Yes, yes, it is.

And today I'm here to tell the truth.

Well, let us look at production 470.

If that could be on the screen, please?

And if we can turn to page three,

the bottom of page three.

I will read part of the police statement which was,

presumably, read to you in 1991.

And what it says in the second half of the page is,

"Mr Bell wrote down a statement from me."

Is that true?

Yes. Yes, Mr Bell wrote it in English.

And given your limited grasp of languages, mistakes could be made.

I signed the statement, as you can clearly see.

And like I said before, I was shown

photograph 8, and at that point, I...

Your Lordships, I believe image number 8 should be

put on the epidiascope and screens, simply for clarity.

I confirmed many times, like I said...

- Very well, let us move on... - What I said...

..was that from all the photographs I have been shown,

number 8 is the only one really close and similar

to the man who bought the clothing,

and he's that man sitting in the dock.

I didn't go to this store.

Umbrella?

What would I do with this?

The story of Lockerbie is...complex.

There are still gaps in the facts.

Gaps that we imagine ourselves into,

gaps that we hope time will fill.

But after 12 years of investigation

and many weeks of testimony, there is much that we do know.

We know that on December the 21st 1988,

a bomb caused Pan Am 103

to disintegrate in the sky.

We know that the town of Lockerbie, overnight, became a vast

crime scene, divided into sectors.

And we know that the recovery of bodies began that first night.

Forensic testing revealed

the explosion came from within a Samsonite suitcase

in pallet 4041.

The defence has not challenged this, nor the evidence that the explosive

device was a Toshiba radio cassette player fitted with a MEBO timer.

Parts of both the radio

and the MEBO timer were found embedded in clothing,

including Yorkie trousers that Mr Gauci remembers selling

to a Libyan man fitting the first defendant's description,

in December 1988,

when Mr Megrahi has admitted that he was in Malta.

And though he denies he returned to Malta on December the 20th,

immigration records show that he did,

using one of his other passports,

the one in the name Abdusamad, that he claims to know nothing of.

But, of course, has lied about his whereabouts, as a guilty man must

when trying to keep his house of cards, of lies, from falling.

Your Lordships,

once more we will refer you to footage of Mr Salinger's interview

with Mr Megrahi for ABC News.

I was not in Malta over the 20th and 21 of December.

Trust me,

I was in Tripoli, with my family.

Later in the interview,

Mr Megrahi again claimed, "I was not in Malta that day."

Mr Salinger asked if he was sure,

and Mr Megrahi said...

This is a surprise.

But if I had time, I could find the proof I was in Tripoli.

And I'm certain about it,

because I only have one passport.

One.

This is how a bomb plot, like any plot, any story, takes shape.

A chain of devastation that can be

traced back to one deceit after another.

A lie, upon a lie, upon a lie.

But truths, they can be linked, too.

The night before the bombing,

after Mr Megrahi checked in to the Holiday Inn in Malta,

we contend that he and Mr Fhimah met a third individual.

This third individual was, we believe, Abu Agila Masud.

We have heard the defence imply that Mr Masud does not exist.

Perhaps time will tell.

But Mr Megrahi and Mr Fhimah's whereabouts are known.

From his Holiday Inn hotel room,

Mr Megrahi called Mr Fhimah.

It was 7.11am on the morning of the 21st of December,

the day Pan Am 103 would go down.

And they had a plan -

to go to the airport with the suitcase holding the bomb.

The case was checked on to Air Malta flight KM180

with a rush tag.

It flagged the case's ultimate destination as New York,

via Frankfurt

and London.

The case should have been checked multiple times.

But the defendants knew what others in the airline industry also knew

in 1988, such safety protocols were often ignored.

And when the case reached Frankfurt,

outdated X-ray machines were relied upon as the only line of defence.

And when it arrived in London,

it was loaded onto Pan Am 103.

The plot had reached a point of no return.

There was less than an hour left

on the MEBO timer attached to the BomBeat radio in the case.

Time was ticking...

..and the last chance to save lives was lost.

And to some extent, Your Lordships, the rest is history.

Within minutes...

..hundreds of families had lost

sons, daughters, husbands and wives.

People from all over the world...

..coming home to loved ones for Christmas...

..with no idea they would soon fall from the sky

onto a small Scottish town,

as locals felt the heavens cave in.

So many futures were shattered that cold December night.

And the world changed forever

in the way it looked at international terrorism

and mass murder.

Tonight, the court that has heard 84 days

and three million words of evidence,

is ready for the final day of Britain's biggest mass murder trial.

From here, the three Scottish judges will deliver their verdict.

The British relatives of the dead say it will be difficult.

There you go.

Oh, thanks.

PHONE RINGS

The judges have reached a verdict.

My Lords, have you reached a verdict

in respect of each accused?

We have.

Would you give me, please, your verdict

in respect of the accused Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah?

Not guilty.

PEOPLE GASP

Would you give me, please, your verdict in respect

of the accused Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi?

Guilty.

Yes!

Are both verdicts unanimous, or by a majority?

Both verdicts are unanimous.

Well done.

If this is justice, why doesn't it feel better?

Well, because nothing's going to bring back your son.

Tonight, behind high prison walls, a Libyan Intelligence

agent is beginning a 20-year sentence for murder.

And the man accused with him is leaving for Libya.

The three judges admit there are uncertainties in this case,

but nothing, they say, that gives them

any reasonable doubt that Megrahi was the bomber.

20 years is less than a month per victim,

and somehow that doesn't sit right with me.

It is with a form of relief that we experience this today.

You can't mend my heart.

Cos I still don't have her.

So, although the world's attention may now move on,

with the feeling justice has been served here,

for the 400 people who lost children,

the 76 people who lost husbands and wives,

and the 140 who lost parents,

there are still more questions than there are answers.

We knew that his bags were found in 1989.

The last things he owned and touched.

Why have we had to wait so many years to have them returned to us?

We suspected the defence would try to reignite suspicions around your

son at the trial to provide an alternative theory, however untrue.

We had to retain your son's belongings in case

they were called into evidence.

I never thought there could be anything worse than death...

..but 12 years of suspicion...

..that's been worse.

I am so very sorry for all that your family's been put through.

Truly.

Please stay.

Why don't you have some tea?

Thank you.

That's very generous of you.

This must be the next generation.

Yeah.

They keep us busy.

I bet.

Mary Lou.

Margaret.

It's good to see you.

Oh, you, too.

- How are you? - I'm good. Thank you.

- Hi, Margaret. Hi. - Hello, Kathryn.

We try to spend Christmases together these days.

Some years me and my Hugh go to New Jersey.

And other years...

We're here in Lockerbie

with our Scottish family.

- Shall we? - Yeah. - Yeah.

Come on, kids.

- Kathryn. - Joe, it's so good to see you. - How are you?

- Ed. - Good to see you, Joe.

- Dick. - Great to see you.

Hey, I just wanted to say thank you, all,

for everything you've done on the case.

No. Thank you, not just for fighting for justice, but for change.

The families should have been protected

and prioritised from the start.

We can't make that mistake again.

I remember my first sight of Lockerbie after the bombing.

I remember the destruction,

the wreckage.

But I've realised that isn't what this place is.

This town's character lies in the efforts of ordinary people

to rebuild, to repair,

to be there for each other,

to step up, generously, in the most extraordinary circumstances.

And to make whole some of what was destroyed.

Families from all over the world were welcomed here.

Kindness and communication arose from the worst atrocity.

Grief has remained, but Lockerbie has set an example...

..we hope future generations will follow.

BAGPIPES PLAY

The Lockerbie bomber Libya-bound, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi

boarded his plane to Tripoli just two hours

after Scotland's Justice Minister had confirmed he was to be released.