The subject of the Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was the explosion of an American airliner over the sleepy town of Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988 shortly after 7:00 PM. The village contains a golf course, a train station and a park named after King Edward. The town is passed by Highway A74(M).
Life in Lockerbie was permanently changed. The aircraft was on its way to New York City, having originated in Frankfurt, Germany, and stopping briefly in London. The plane blew up over the town, resulting in the loss of 270 lives, including 11 local residents. Debris was discovered over a six-mile stretch of the area.
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.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing at a trial held in the Netherlands, a neutral country in the years 2000 and 2001. He was tried under Scottish law, as that was the site of the crime.
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 Scottish arm of the Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by John Orr and Watson McAteer, Chief Inspector of the local police force. The American team was comprised of two CIA personnel, Jim Shaughnessy and Vinnie Cannistraro. Rounding out the American team were Robert Muller and Larry Whittaker. Together, the investigation took place in 13 countries and accumulated 15,000 statements, 35,000 photos and 12,700 name cards.
Life in Lockerbie was permanently changed. The aircraft was on its way to New York City, having originated in Frankfurt, Germany, and stopping briefly in London. The plane blew up over the town, resulting in the loss of 270 lives, including 11 local residents. Debris was discovered over a six-mile stretch of the area.
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.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing at a trial held in the Netherlands, a neutral country in the years 2000 and 2001. He was tried under Scottish law, as that was the site of the crime.
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 Scottish arm of the Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation was led by John Orr and Watson McAteer, Chief Inspector of the local police force. The American team was comprised of two CIA personnel, Jim Shaughnessy and Vinnie Cannistraro. Rounding out the American team were Robert Muller and Larry Whittaker. Together, the investigation took place in 13 countries and accumulated 15,000 statements, 35,000 photos and 12,700 name cards.
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