Victim's father calls for inquiry on Malta's last link to Lockerbie

Marie Benoit

Feb 18th, 20:15

Private Eye followed this painful case right from the start and I recall reading a report about it years ago in which it was pointed out that the suitcase was not put on the plane in Malta but at Heathrow. There is plenty of material from Private Eye journalists to read on the web.
I wish Dr Squire well. 'The mills of God grind slow but exceedingly fine.' So many lies, so many innocent victims.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 18th, 03:13

James Tyrrell: We now know that the coating on the copper track of the timer fragment found near Lockerbie was 100% tin while that on the tracks of the timers sent to Libya by MEBO was a tin/lead alloy. Therefore, another of the "links" connecting the bombing and Libya (and Megrahi) is broken. This evidence was known well before the trial but was, somehow, lost until very recently.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:21

No time to outline them now but there are many sites on-line which discuss these matters. Can I suggest Professor Robert Black's The Lockerbie Case.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:20

So, a description which was nothing like Megraghi, discussions about money, a slow transition to "he resembles him a lot" which is taken as a positive identification in court, followed by the pocketing of millions of dollars. It stinks. Bribery and corruption always does! One link broken, and it only needs one, but there are many, many others.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:20

Suffice it to say that Tony pointed to Megrahi in the dock and stated "he is the man on this side, he resembles him a lot." It is now established (though it was not admitted for a long time) that Tony received $2m from a US government agency. His brother Paul got $1m "for maintainingTony's resolve."

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:19

As time went on Tony was regularly interviewed by Scottish police officers and one, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Bell, wrote in his diary "During recent meetings with Tony he has expressed an interest in receiving money." The path from Tony's description of the clothes buyer as looking nothing like Megrahi to his "identification" of Megrahi in court is long and convoluted.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:19

Most people agree that Tony is "a simple man" though Scotland's Lord Advocate was later, less politely, to describe him as "an apple short of a picnic." It became clear that he was greatly influenced by his brother Paul who was described by police as very interested in monetary reward.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:17

The article of clothing was traced to Gauci's shop and the circuit board fragment was said to have originated from one of a batch of electronic timers sent to Libya by a Swiss electronics company called MEBO (further investigation has cast doubt, some would say disproved, that the fragment had come from Libya and the article of clothing from Mary's House, but I'm not concentrating on these now).

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:14

I will deal, very briefly, with just one of these links, the "identification" of Megrahi by Tony Gauci, who ran a clothes shop in Malta called Mary's House. A small fragment of electronic circuit board was found embedded in a charred shirt near Lockerbie which forensics suggested had been in the bomb suitcase at the time of the explosion.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:13

Some of the evidence presented in court should never have been accepted by the sheriffs who sat in judgement and certainly would never have been accepted by a jury of 15 fair-minded Scots. Since the trial, further investigation has proved that witnesses were bribed, false evidence fabricated and true evidence withheld from the defence.

Stewart Dredge

Feb 17th, 17:12

The conviction of Megrahi relied on a chain of evidence which the prosecution linked into what it claimed was a watertight case. There is nothing wrong, in principal, with presenting such a case to a court but each link has to be sound and unbreakable. In Megragi's case it turned out that almost very link was paper-weak.

James Tyrrell

Feb 17th, 15:18

The Lockerbie disaster like 9/11 is one of those things where the truth may never be known simply because the world may not be ready to accept the truth!

Gerry Cowie

Feb 17th, 14:52

It won't go away until the truth is out. And perhaps it suits many in the background that the truth does not emerge. The investigation clearly has not been thorough. It is a great tribute to Jim Swire that, whilst mourning the loss of his own child, he still seeks the truth of what happened. The coverup will one day be revealed thanks to people like Jim Swire.

John Briffa

Feb 17th, 12:56

Wonder when is this thing going away, I think there had been a thorough investigation on this sad tragedy.
Justice had been served and compensation was paid out by Libya.Time to put it to rest once and for all.

Anthony A. Mifsud

Feb 17th, 12:11

Mr. Gatt . I fully agree, we should put this article to rest. As all avenues where exhausted ... Thanks to all this turmoil myself and others working for a US based oil Co. We have lost big time and the US took advantage from this situation as 25 pension went down the drain
I am simply sick reading these articles about Lockerbie. While I still sympathized with Dr. Swire.
Ninu

Mr Tony Gatt

Feb 17th, 11:43

This man lost a daughter but who has continually stated that the trial was flawed.

Some say it suited America to blame Libya for this terrorist act when a few months earlier an American warship had destroyed an Iranian airliner and no-one has considred it could be a retaliatory act by Iran. Some of the officers on that ship were actually decorated when they got back to the United States.