Lockerbie prosecutors reject claims

The defence said the suitcase could have been loaded in Frankfurt

Prosecutors at the appeal of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing have rejected claims that key evidence in the original trial was misinterpreted.

Advocate-Depute Allan Turnbull QC said evidence presented in the trial of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi was properly evaluated.

Defence lawyers had argued the trial judges did not accept criticisms of security failures at Frankfurt Airport.

They said that rather than the suitcase bomb being loaded at Malta as the prosecution had claimed, it could have joined the flight in Germany.

Al-Megrahi: Appeal

Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan security agent, was found guilty last year of loading a suitcase bomb in Malta, which was then transferred via Frankfurt onto Pan Am Flight 103.

The plane was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on its way from London's Heathrow Airport to New York, killing 270 people.

Testimony from baggage handlers and computer luggage records from Frankfurt were an important part of the prosecution case that the bomb originated in Malta, where al-Megrahi was seen buying clothing found in the wreckage.

Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role but will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

His lawyers opened their appeal on 23 January asking the appeal court to admit new testimony they claim could overturn the conviction of their client.

Appeal judges

Defence attorney William Taylor QC disputed prosecution evidence that the bomb must have started its fatal journey in Malta.

He argued that it could have been smuggled onto the New York-bound plane elsewhere and by someone else.

Mr Turnbull told the appeal judges that defence lawyers had failed to prove that anyone other than al-Megrahi's carried out the attack.

"There is no record of what the appellant says may have happened," he said.

The appeal hearing was heard in the same makeshift courtroom at Camp Zeist, a former air force base in the Netherlands, that the original nine-month trial was held in 2000.