Tears flow again for victims of Lockerbie

A LOCKERBIE congregation fell silent for two minutes at 7:03pm last night as they paused to remember the moment 270 lives were lost in the Pan Am air disaster 20 years ago.

The service at Dryfesdale Parish Church was just one of a number of events on both sides of the Atlantic for the sombre anniversary, at Heathrow Airport, Syracuse University in New York State, and in Washington, DC.

The Rev Sandy Stoddart said he wanted the town to return to where it was before the terrorist bombing and just be plain Lockerbie.

He said: "If you have lost a loved one or loved ones, if everything that you thought was life was wiped in a moment, is it any more poignant or painful to be approaching the 20th Christmas than the 19th?

"I cannot speak for the families of those who died, and I am not sure I have any right to speak for the people of Lockerbie. But I've got a strong sense that Lockerbie feels that this commemoration is enough, if not more than enough.

"Many would like to have the time back, wanting to be Lockerbie without the brackets. Just plain Lockerbie, not Lockerbie the town where…"

The minister said one relative had described the tragedy of 21 December, 1988 as Lockerbie "receiving those who died in a loving embrace".

He also spoke of the strong bonds that had been formed in the aftermath of the atrocity, including new friendships and a close link with Syracuse University.

When Pan Am flight 103 from Heathrow to New York exploded in the skies above the Dumfriesshire town all 259 people on board were killed and a further 11 died on the ground below.

More than 150 people marked the anniversary earlier on Sunday at a wreath-laying ceremony at Dryfesdale Cemetery.

For some of the relatives, the pain of two decades ago was obviously still raw. They sobbed and hugged as a mass of flowers were laid at the foot of the granite plinth bearing the names of those who perished.

Among the onlookers were some Americans, including Tom Cocker, from New Jersey, who lost his 19-year-old twin sons, Eric and Jason. They were among a group of 35 students returning to Syracuse University after spending a semester in London.

Since the disaster, Lockerbie Academy has sent 38 students to Syracuse for year-long scholarships as part of a friendship link. A group of them were at the cemetery, including the current scholars, Lauren Flynn and Kirsty Liddon, 18, who had flown home for Christmas.

A vigil was also held last night at Tundergarth Kirk, four miles from Lockerbie, where the jumbo jet's nose cone fell to the ground.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, yesterday said his thoughts were with the people of Lockerbie, and all of those affected on both sides of the Atlantic.


Anger at 'Stockholm syndrome' claim

THE father of one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing and a key spokesman for the UK campaign to free the bomber is behaving like a sufferer of Stockholm syndrome, a former prosecutor claimed yesterday.

Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who was lord advocate in 1991 when Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was charged, said Jim Swire was too close to the case. He claimed the former GP was acting like a sufferer of the condition in which victims become emotionally attached to their attackers.

Dr Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, became a spokesman for the families of the victims in the UK, and he has long been convinced of Megrahi's innocence.

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the atrocity, Lord Fraser, who is also a former Tory MP, defended the Libyan's 2001 conviction.

In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, he said: "In a sense, it doesn't matter what I think. It matters even less what Jim Swire thinks. He may be good at medicine, but it doesn't follow that he's any good at law.

"I'm concerned that he has got a bit too close to it. It is like Stockholm syndrome."

Lord Fraser also said Megrahi should not be released from prison, despite suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

"I understand that the evidence before the court and the First Minister is that he may have as much as five years left, and that is too long for compassionate release."

Dr Swire hit back at Lord Fraser, suggesting it had been insensitive of him to make such remarks at this time.

"I would have preferred that such matters were not raised on the back of an anniversary where relatives need to remember with gladness the lives of those they lost," Dr Swire said.

"It is Lord Fraser who judged this to be a favourable time for such comments. That is a shame, and not in line with his normal caring and sympathetic ways."