Police 'reviewing Lockerbie case'

Megrahi was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 2001 Police are pursuing "several potential lines of inquiry" as they review the Lockerbie bombing case, reports say. Detectives in Scotland are working with forensic scientists to try to build a case against those involved in the 1988 atrocity, the Sunday Telegraph says. Prosecutors say Libyan Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi - who was convicted in 2001 of the murder of 270 people but freed in August - was not working alone. Relatives of those who died have renewed calls for a public inquiry. The Crown Office in Scotland said there was "no question" of re-opening the case against Megrahi. 'Unfinished business' Some 259 people on board Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York were killed in the bombing on 21 December 1988, along with 11 people on the ground. Members of UK Families Flight 103 delivered a letter to the UK prime minister asking for a full independent inquiry and to meet him. In it they write: "We have waited patiently for almost 21 years to learn the full truth of what happened.  If [the investigation] is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected... I would be livid  Dr Jim Swire, relative and campaigner "Now we await Prime Minister Gordon Brown's response to our renewed calls for a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the bombing." A spokeswoman said: "Since 1989 senior political figures from successive governments have agreed in principle to an inquiry but have qualified their comments by saying that it could not take place while the criminal investigation was ongoing. "With the abandonment of Mr Megrahi's appeal against his conviction, there has been no resolution to any aspect of responsibility for the bombing." Mr Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, served eight years in prison before he was released on compassionate grounds days after dropping a second appeal against his conviction. The Sunday Telegraph said the latest review of the case was revealed in e-mails from the Crown Office - Scotland's prosecuting authority - to relatives. It said Lindsey Miller, a senior Procurator Fiscal, wrote: "Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued. Prosecutors have always believed Megrahi did not act alone "Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end a further review of the case is under way and several potential lines of inquiry... are being considered." She added that it "would not be appropriate" to elaborate on those lines. Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter was killed when Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, said the announcement should be interpreted as a "good thing". "Expectations around Megrahi's appeal were really quite high but hopes were profoundly dashed when the appeal was abandoned. The situation is unresolved and it is unfinished business," she said. Dr Jim Swire, who has campaigned for a full inquiry into the bombing since his daughter Flora died in the atrocity, said: "I think that if they are really going to a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. I would be all for it. "But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid." Megrahi 'not alone' UK Families Flight 103 said they were seeking access to previously withheld documents referred to in Megrahi's trial, which suggested they contained "significant information" from a foreign power. They argue that under the European Convention on Human Rights they have the right to an inquiry that confirms to "certain minimum standards where it has occurred at the hands of a state or at the hands of agents of a state". Megrahi, who returned to Libya after the Scottish Government made the decision to release him, has always protested his innocence. A Crown Office spokesman said: "There is no question of re-opening the case against Megrahi. The open case concerns only the involvement of others with Megrahi in the murder of 270 people and the Crown will continue to pursue such lines of inquiry that become available. "The trial court accepted the Crown's position that Mr Megrahi acted in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services and did not act alone. "The Crown stood ready, willing and able to support his conviction throughout the appeal process which he abandoned." Source: BBC News