Eight Lockerbie suspects were never investigated

Edinburgh (Scotland), Oct.26 (ANI): At least eight suspects who may have been involved in the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that claimed 270 lives, have never been investigated because the Libyan government refusal to co-operate with Scottish police.

The Scotsman has learned that the individuals emerged as possible "high-level" suspects as part of the original inquiry into the bombing following the atrocity.

All eight are thought to be male and were never ruled out of the investigation because Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi refused to release them for questioning.

The detail - never previously made public - came as the Crown Office and police confirmed officers are reviewing the investigation and are set to pursue several lines of inquiry into the bombing, focusing particularly on others suspected of being involved.

Prosecutors said Lockerbie was subject to a further review because the only man convicted of the crime, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, had dropped his appeal.

Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal cancer, was allowed to return home to Libya in August this year after justice secretary Kenny MacAskill released him on compassionate grounds.

Stuart Henderson, who spent four years leading the investigation, said officers investigating the bombing identified the list of people in Libya, but they were never interviewed.

Henderson, a former detective chief superintendent with Lothian and Borders Police, who led the Lockerbie incident control centre until 1992, told The Scotsman he hoped the case review would allow officers to pursue the lines of inquiry opened up by his team. (ANI)