Libya pays Fletcher family six-figure sum

A SIX-FIGURE sum was paid by the Libyan authorities to the family of the murdered PC Yvonne Fletcher as compensation for her killing, in return for the re-establishment of full diplomatic links with Britain.

PC Fletcher was gunned down in a hail of automatic fire in April 1984, while policing a crowd of protesters against the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi outside the former Libyan People's Bureau in central London. Her family asked for the exact sum not to be disclosed but it was described as "very substantial" and is believed to be around pounds 200,000.

The Foreign Secretary told MPs that the payment of the compensation - agreed in principle in July - was the "last obstacle" to the resumption of full diplomatic relations.

"The government of Libya has handed over compensation for the killing of WPC Fletcher, so removing the last obstacle to the restoration of full diplomatic relations," Robin Cook said. "I can inform the house that we expect a British ambassador to take up his post in Libya next month."

The new ambassador is expected to be announced today by Mr Cook, marking the final stages of the careful diplomatic manoeuvres to end Libya's isolation. The EU is still maintaining an arms embargo, and the next stage could be restoration of ministerial visits between the two countries.

In a further move, prosecution lawyers in the trial of the two Libyans charged with the Lockerbie bombing yesterday agreed to surrender vital documents to their defence.

Lawyers for the two men had, since August, unsuccessfully sought three sets of files and planned to cite the European Convention on Human Rights, which was incorporated into Scottish law in May.

However, during a pre-trial hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, the prosecution agreed to hand over all the documents by next week.

One of the files relates to the results of an investigation by Frankfurt police into terrorism between 1988 and 1990, while another involves requests from the Scottish police to the German authorities for help in investigating the explosion over Lockerbie in December 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103 that claimed the lives of 270 people. A third set concerns statements by a prosecution witness, Abu Talb, currently in jail facing bomb-making charges in Sweden.

Neither of the two accused Libyans - Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah, who deny bombing the plane, was present at yesterday's 20-minute hearing.

Lord Sutherland, presiding, was told that 40,000 pages of documents had already been passed to the defence last week and that the remainder would be produced by December 1.

Lawyers for the two Libyans indicated yesterday that there is likely to be a further legal challenge over the competence of the charges they face.