Freed Lockerbie bomber may live another 20 years, admits 'embarrassed' specialist

London, July 5 (ANI): The cancer expert, Professor Karol Sikora, who predicted that the Lockerbie bomber would die within three months of his release from prison has admitted he could live for another twenty years or more.

According to The Sun, Sikora, who had earlier diagnosed Abdelbaset Al Megrahi with terminal cancer, faced calls to apologise to victims' families on Sunday.

"It is embarrassing that he's gone on for so long. There was always a chance that he would live for 10 years, 20 years - but it's very unusual," Karol Sikora said.

The medical director of Cancer Partners UK, who was paid 200 pounds an hour for his services, assessed Megrahi for the Libyan authorities. The bomber was allowed home after being freed on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and is still alive.

Campaigners reacted with fury to the professor's comments, which they said raised new questions about the decision to allow Megrahi to return to his native Libya. The families of the 270 people killed when Pan Am flight 103 exploded in 1988 expressed disappointment at the doctor's blunder.

"It's outrageous. His release was obviously rigged," the paper quoted Eileen Monetti, from New Jersey, whose son Rick, 20, died in the explosion. (ANI)