The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation began on December 21, 1988, shortly after seven o'clock in the evening in the small village of Lockerbie in the county of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The village is accessible by highway A74(M). There is a golf course nearby, a train station and King Edward Park.
The peaceful, unassuming little town was never to be the same. Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was en route to New York City. Originating in Frankfurt, Germany, with a stop at London's Heathrow Airport to drop off and pick up passengers. At three minutes past seven that Thursday evening, Flight 103 exploded over the tiny village, killing 259 people, as well as 11 people on the ground. The explosion left a six-mile trail of destruction on the ground.
Three days before the incident, on December 18, American embassies in Finland and Russia had circulated warnings threats that had been received of a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States planned to be the target of a terrorist attack. While the airline was made aware of the threats, as were the relevant police departments, the threat was not made public. People who were intending to board the aircraft in London but who didn't make it were an Indian mechanic, Jaswant Basuta (who was, for a while, a suspect in the bombing), American singing group, the Four Tops, and Pik Botha, the foreign minister for South Africa.
An unaccompanied suitcase, thought to contain the bomb, was discovered to have been transported from Malta to Frankfurt, where it was transferred to the London flight, Pan Am Flight 103A. It later emerged that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man later to be convicted of the atrocity, had boarded the Malta flight. This massive laps in security at Frankfurt Airport led to security being tightened at smaller airports all over the world.
Careful searches of the local area during the investigation revealed almost sixty pieces of a suitcase that had evidence of extreme bomb damage. A circuit board, believed to have been part of the bomb, was located wrapped in a kid's t-shirt that was purchased in Malta. At first, when the shopkeeper in Malta was questioned as to who purchased the shirt, he said it was al-Megrahi. He later recanted this claim.
The trial, which began in 2000 and concluded in 2001, was held in the neutral state of the Netherlands. Because the incident had occurred in the skies over Lockerbie, al-Megrahi was tried under Scottish Law. The trial lasted for nine months.
At the conclusion of the trial, the Libyan was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, serving a minimum of 27 years. Seven years later, in 2008, the convicted killer was diagnosed with terminal cancer and freed from prison by the then Scottish Secretary of Justice. He was flown to his home state of Libya on compassionate grounds. This decision remains hotly contested by people in the United Kingdom and in America. Insult followed injury when the convicted mass murderer was welcomed a hero when he arrived in Libya.
The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by Chief Inspector Watson McAteer and John Orr of Scotland. On the American team were Lawrence Whittaker, Robert Muller, Vincent Cannistraro and James Shaughnessy. One year after the crash, the investigation had amassed 35,000 photographs, 15,000 statements and 12,700 name cards. Investigators had traveled to 13 countries.
The peaceful, unassuming little town was never to be the same. Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was en route to New York City. Originating in Frankfurt, Germany, with a stop at London's Heathrow Airport to drop off and pick up passengers. At three minutes past seven that Thursday evening, Flight 103 exploded over the tiny village, killing 259 people, as well as 11 people on the ground. The explosion left a six-mile trail of destruction on the ground.
Three days before the incident, on December 18, American embassies in Finland and Russia had circulated warnings threats that had been received of a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States planned to be the target of a terrorist attack. While the airline was made aware of the threats, as were the relevant police departments, the threat was not made public. People who were intending to board the aircraft in London but who didn't make it were an Indian mechanic, Jaswant Basuta (who was, for a while, a suspect in the bombing), American singing group, the Four Tops, and Pik Botha, the foreign minister for South Africa.
An unaccompanied suitcase, thought to contain the bomb, was discovered to have been transported from Malta to Frankfurt, where it was transferred to the London flight, Pan Am Flight 103A. It later emerged that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man later to be convicted of the atrocity, had boarded the Malta flight. This massive laps in security at Frankfurt Airport led to security being tightened at smaller airports all over the world.
Careful searches of the local area during the investigation revealed almost sixty pieces of a suitcase that had evidence of extreme bomb damage. A circuit board, believed to have been part of the bomb, was located wrapped in a kid's t-shirt that was purchased in Malta. At first, when the shopkeeper in Malta was questioned as to who purchased the shirt, he said it was al-Megrahi. He later recanted this claim.
The trial, which began in 2000 and concluded in 2001, was held in the neutral state of the Netherlands. Because the incident had occurred in the skies over Lockerbie, al-Megrahi was tried under Scottish Law. The trial lasted for nine months.
At the conclusion of the trial, the Libyan was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, serving a minimum of 27 years. Seven years later, in 2008, the convicted killer was diagnosed with terminal cancer and freed from prison by the then Scottish Secretary of Justice. He was flown to his home state of Libya on compassionate grounds. This decision remains hotly contested by people in the United Kingdom and in America. Insult followed injury when the convicted mass murderer was welcomed a hero when he arrived in Libya.
The Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by Chief Inspector Watson McAteer and John Orr of Scotland. On the American team were Lawrence Whittaker, Robert Muller, Vincent Cannistraro and James Shaughnessy. One year after the crash, the investigation had amassed 35,000 photographs, 15,000 statements and 12,700 name cards. Investigators had traveled to 13 countries.
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