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Families of the Lockerbie bombing victims believe a forthcoming trial in the US is “their opportunity to see justice”, according to the lead Scottish investigator into the terrorist atrocity.
In an exclusive interview with 1919 Magazine, Stuart Cossar said the trial “will be proof that we haven’t rested, that we have continued to try, despite the fact that 36 years have passed now”.
Abu Agila Masud Al-Marimi, a Libyan suspect referred to as Masud, has been accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am 103 in 1988 and killed 270 people.
To date, the only person ever to be convicted is fellow Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty in 2001 of the murders by the introduction of an explosive device onto the aircraft.
Former detective inspector Cossar was posted to Lockerbie the year after the disaster and later became the lead investigator.
In a wide-ranging interview with 1919, he said the evidence of Megrahi’s guilt was “overwhelming”, despite questions that have raged for years – reignited recently by the TV series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth starring Colin Firth and based on a book written by Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the atrocity.
Cossar met Megrahi when he was in HMP Greenock awaiting the outcome of his second appeal, which he later abandoned, and is now due to travel to Washington DC to give evidence in Masud’s trial.
The case was due to start on May 12 but is likely to be postponed following a request from government prosecutors.
“The families are, quite rightly, nervous about it, and excited about it,” Cossar said.
“They’re 36 years older and it’s their opportunity to see justice.
“I don’t think it’ll ever give them closure – you know that clichéd saying – nothing will, but it will help them in their own personal recovery, I would think.
“There’s a real optimism as well. In the American families, there’s possibly even relief that it’s in America.”
The FBI claims Masud was a Libyan intelligence agent who acted alongside Megrahi.
The bomb that blew up Pan Am 103 was concealed in a radio cassette player in a suitcase and then smuggled on board a flight from Malta before it was eventually loaded onto the plane from London to New York.
During the prosecution of Megrahi, there were claims that the bomb was put aboard at Heathrow rather than Malta, and that the timer fragment was planted or altered.
However, in 2014 a detailed review by Scottish investigators concluded there was “not a shred of evidence” to support the suggestion Megrahi was wrongly convicted.
“A lot of people have got their own theories,” said Cossar.
“Because [Megrahi] was courteous and polite, you maybe find it difficult to believe that he would be involved in such an atrocity, but you’ve got to look through that and you’ve got to look beyond the man and you’ve got to look at the evidence which, for me, is overwhelming that he’s guilty.
“Some of the people believe that some of the critical productions in the case like the small fragment of timer that was recovered – they think that that was recovered in a field and that’s why they’re so suspicious of it.
“It wasn’t found like that, it was found embedded in a piece of charred clothing that was established as coming from the IED [improvised explosive device] suitcase.
“It’s theories like that that are completely at odds with the actual truth.”
But he added: “We know that Megrahi wasn’t involved on his own. So, it is about trying to find out who else was involved with him and bringing them to justice.”
The wreckage of Pan Am 103 will soon leave Scotland, bound for America, along with many of the 14,000 productions and more than 20,000 documents linked to the case.
“Our wreckage is in Dumfries but the Americans are wanting it taken over perhaps for the trial, but certainly they want it there anyway,” said Cossar.
He added: “Who knows in the future, if we are fortunate enough to get other people involved, there may be another trial in Scottish jurisdiction.”