Lockerbie father meets Megrahi

The father of one of the Lockerbie victims has been to Libya to visit the only man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi invited Dr Jim Swire to meet him and the two men spent around an hour together in Megrahi's hospital ward in Tripoli last Tuesday.

Megrahi was released from Greenock prison just over a year ago on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya as he battled prostate cancer.

Dr Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter, Flora, was one of the 270 victims of the atrocity, has long believed Megrahi is innocent and wants a full inquiry.

He said the Libyan looked better than he expected. He said: "It was a man-to-man confidential meeting. We have something in common in that he wants to clear his name and I want to see the verdict re-examined under Scots law, so we have a common aim to overturn the verdict.

"I was very relieved to see him as well as he was. He is a very sick man but he can get out of bed and walk, though not very far."