Lockerbie Air Disaster

Since the introduction of legislation, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, there has naturally been an intense interest in all aspects of this investigation.

Wherever possible the force endeavours to respond to these requests however the fact that the case remains live means that there are limitations on what information can be made available.

The trial records have already placed the bulk of the evidential process into the public arena which is complimented by information contained on the websites of other agencies who were involved.

The Incident

At 7.03 p.m. on Wednesday 21 December 1988 a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, Pan American flight 103 en route from London to New York, exploded over the town of Lockerbie, in Dumfriesshire. 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents of the town were killed. Extensive damage was caused to property in Lockerbie and debris from the aircraft was spread over some 845 square miles between Lockerbie and the North Sea.

The murder of 270 people from 21 different countries resulted in the largest criminal investigation ever undertaken in the United Kingdom and was led by the Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and co-ordinated from the town of Lockerbie itself.

The investigative principles applied by the then Chief Constable John Boyd at the time of the disaster laid the foundation for the meticulous evidence gathering process required to underpin the criminal prosecution many years later. The investigation was of an international dimension, with enquiries extending over seventy countries and detectives from the investigation team personally conducting enquiries over a third of these.

The Political Scene

On 12 November 1991, as a result of the investigation and police report, arrest warrants were issued against two Libyan nationals, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah.

Following the issue of the arrest warrants, the Libyan government consistently refused to hand over the two accused. Sanctions were imposed by the United Nations in an effort to persuade Libya to comply with Security Council Resolutions 731 and 748. As a result of the sanctions and international negotiations which continued throughout the 1990's, agreement was finally reached that a trial of the two accused could be held under Scottish Law at a neutral venue.

The High Court of Justiciary (Proceedings in The Netherlands) (United Nations) Order 1998 provided the legal framework which enabled the trial to take place at Kamp Van Zeist, Soesterberg, The Netherlands.

Identifying and setting up a suitable location for the trial confronted the planning team with both legal and logistical challenges never faced before by the Scottish Police Service.

A suitable venue was identified at the former American Military Air Base known as Kamp Van Zeist and the process of preparing contingency plans for the policing operation and the occupation and use of the property in the Netherlands began.

On 2 April 1999 these plans were implemented when the first teams of Scottish police officers and staff, who had been drawn from all eight Scottish police forces, moved into the accommodation at Kamp Van Zeist.

The Trial and Verdict

On the evening of 5 April 1999 a United Nations aircraft carrying Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah touched down at a military air base in the Netherlands. The two accused were transferred to a Dutch Ministry of Justice high security escort and flown to Kamp Van Zeist, where the Scottish authorities and the world's media awaited their arrival.

The two accused were formally extradited to Scottish jurisdiction and then arrested by Detective Chief Superintendent Tom McCulloch. The following day they appeared before Sheriff Graham Cox, QC, in a makeshift courtroom at Kamp Van Zeist, when they made no plea or declaration. Both were remanded in custody.

The two accused subsequently made a number of appearances in a temporary court at Kamp Van Zeist before being transferred to the permanent HM Prison Zeist, in October 1999, to await trial.

More than 19,500 productions were seized as part of the original enquiry, most of them held in a custom built storage area at Loreburn Street police office, Dumfries. Following the hand over of the two accused a detailed audit of all productions was carried out prior to those required to support the Crown Indictment being transferred to the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. This in itself presented a number of logistical difficulties, which were resolved after close consultation with several United Kingdom police forces, HM Customs and Excise and the Royal Dutch Marechaussee.

The transfer of the productions represented a significant milestone in the police preparations for the trial.

The trial began at the High Court of Judiciary, Kamp van Zeist, on 3rd May 2000. During the trial, evidence was heard from more than 22 witnesses called on behalf of the Crown and three witnesses called by the defence teams.

On Wednesday 31st January 2001 the panel of Scottish judges returned a verdict of guilty to the charge of murder against Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi and not guilty against Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was free to leave and return to Libya.

Megrahi was sentenced to the mandatory life sentence for murder, backdated to April 1999 and recommended to serve not less than twenty years before application for parole.

He was transferred to HM Prison Zeist, pending any application to appeal against the court's decision.

On 7th February 2002 the defence team representing Megrahi intimated their client's intention to appeal against conviction and the appeal process began.

On 23rd January 2002 the appeal hearing began at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands in front of five Scottish judges under the chairmanship of Lord Cullen. The appeal process was completed on 14th February 2002 and the judges retired to deliberate.

On 14th March 2002 the five appeal judges delivered their findings, dismissing the grounds of appeal lodged by Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi and confirming that he should be transferred to a prison in Scotland to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Although the prisoner was the responsibility of the Scottish Prison Service, the Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway was asked to provide the necessary policing for the transfer to Scotland. Operation Edam was put in place and, working in partnership with a number of agencies in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the force transferred the prisoner from HM Prison Zeist to HM Prison Barlinnie, Scotland.

Following the transfer to Barlinnie Prison the Scottish Police contingent vacated the site at Kamp Van Zeist which was returned to the Dutch Authorities.

The Policing Operation

Dumfries and Galloway's commitment to the policing operation called for the use of force personnel in key positions at Kamp Van Zeist, including the Senior Investigating Officer, police commander, operational officers, staff officer and support staff. The activation of a police mutual aid scheme allowed 1,099 officers from all the Scottish forces to serve secondments at Kamp Van Zeist. The highest traditions of the Scottish Police Service were maintained throughout the operation.

Before and during the trial, the enquiry team, under the supervision of a Detective Chief Inspector, supported the Crown by carrying out enquiries and interviewing potential witnesses, completing over 1,500 enquiries and visiting more than thirty countries in the process. On two occasions, Scottish police officers travelled to Libya to pursue lines of enquiry.

The forming of a Witness Management Team, to prepare potential witnesses and relatives for the trial, was a key feature in the strategic planning of the project. The witness list contained more than 11,000 people and included family members, eye witnesses to the disaster, serving and retired police officers, forensic experts, intelligence agents and a convicted terrorist. An ongoing consultation process agreed the categories of witnesses the police would be responsible for and these included all UK police officers, both serving and retired; all protected witnesses; and all special/sensitive witnesses.

The Witness Management Team, both at Dumfries and in the Netherlands, ensured that appropriate support was available to all witnesses who travelled to the Scottish Court in the Netherlands to give evidence.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC) visited Kamp Van Zeist and Dumfries on two occasions and expressed confidence in the manner in which the project was managed. HMCIC made a number of useful recommendations, which were implemented by the force.

The Lockerbie Planning Unit was staffed by a police sergeant and two support staff members. In consultation with the other seven Scottish forces the unit was responsible for the organisations, briefings and all travel arrangements associated with the Lockerbie operation. The unit dealt with a number of agencies including the Procurator Fiscal Service, Department of Social Security, Scottish Prison Service and external suppliers. In addition, police mutual aid costs and the procurement of equipment were administered by the unit and, to ensure best practice and value for money, the unit was regularly audited. Some statistics give an indication of the task undertaken by the planning unit from the start of the trial:

• Organising 93 regular charter flights for transporting teams to Kamp Van Zeist
• Arranging 1,947 scheduled flights for officers travelling to the Kamp and to other locations, ranging from Senegal to Istanbul and Washington DC
• Completing 12 half day briefings at the Scottish Police College for officers going to work at the Kamp
• Arranging 8 briefings at the Scottish Police College for police witnesses cited to give evidence.

The Financial Services Department of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary assisted with preparation of the Lockerbie policing plan and compiled the original budget. This was presented to the Scottish Office and contained all the anticipated expenditure, based on the projected timescales for each phase of the operation. The budget was adjusted following reviews carried out by the Senior Investigating Officer, taking into account the amended timescales for the policing operation.

The necessity for ensuring good IT communications for the policing operation at Kamp Van Zeist was the responsibility of the force's Communications and Information Services Department. Staff installed and maintained the systems which proved invaluable to the professional and efficient policing of the Scottish Court in the Netherlands.