Lockerbie judges consider verdict

Defence counsel submissions are coming to an end

The judges in the Lockerbie trial have retired to consider their verdicts.

The court at Camp Zeist, in the Netherlands, has been adjourned until 30 January.

The earliest day on which the verdict will be given is the next day - Wednesday 31 January.

However, the chairman of the judges, Lord Sutherland warned the amount of evidence to consider means it is not certain a verdict will be ready even then.

Defence counsel for the two Libyans accused of the bombing have made their final pleas to judges to find their clients not guilty of the murder of 270 people.

William Taylor, QC, told the judges that the case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was "wholly circumstantial".

He told lords Sutherland, Coulsfield and Maclean: "I urge the court to find the first accused not guilty."

Trial details

The two accused are Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 48, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, killing all 259 people on board and another 11 on the ground

The two men deny murder. Charges of conspiracy to murder and a breach of the 1982 Aviation Security Act were dropped

The trial is taking place in a Scottish courtroom at Camp Zeist, in the Netherlands

The case is being heard by a panel of Scottish judges

Richard Keen, QC, began his closing submissions by insisting there was no "reliable, coherent" evidence that his client, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was part of any plot to destroy a civil aircraft and murder its occupants.

The Crown has alleged that Mr Fhimah was an integral part of a Libyan intelligence services plan to destroy the aircraft.

Until October 1988, he had worked as station manager for Libyan Arab Airlines at Malta's Luqa airport.

According to the Crown case, he and the co-accused planted an unaccompanied Samsonite suitcase containing the Lockerbie bomb on board an Air Malta flight at Luqa airport on 21 December, 1988.

Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah's involvement was denied

The suitcase travelled on that flight to Frankfurt Airport in Germany where it was tagged to join the ill-fated Pan Am flight 103 to Heathrow and from there tagged for onward travel to New York.

The Crown has asserted that Mr Fhimah used his former position at the airport to further the alleged plot.

They said he was needed to prevent the unwanted attentions of customs officers.

They have also produced evidence about his diary which revealed a reminder to himself to pick up Air Malta luggage tags and take them to Mr Al Megrahi.

Desk drawer

The Crown also pointed to the evidence of Libyan defector Abdul Majid Giaka who worked for the Libyan security services (JSO) in 1984.

He was stationed at Luqa airport from 1986 and worked alongside the two accused.

He had alleged that Mr Fhimah once showed him a desk drawer in their office filled with explosives.

He also alleged that on 20 December, 1988, the day before the bombing - he saw Mr Fhimah take a Samsonite suitcase off the luggage carousel at the airport.

Mr Giaka said Mr Fhimah and Mr Al Megrahi then walked out of the airport with the suitcase which was not inspected by customs officials.