Dalyell demands inquiry for 'innocent' Megrahi
MICHAEL SETTLE
The Herald, 27 March 2002
TAM Dalyell, the veteran back bencher, yesterday
demanded the government launch an inquiry into
the Lockerbie bombing, disclosing to MPs that
police notebooks recording the aftermath of the
tragedy had been destroyed.
The Labour MP for Linlithgow, a long-time
campaigner for justice in the Lockerbie case,
claimed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the
49-year-old Libyan convicted of the mass killing,
was innocent.
He used parliamentary privilege to question the
Scottish court's verdict, drawing attention to claims
vital documents had gone missing.
"This Easter, an innocent man, innocent of the
monstrous crime he was found guilty of
committing, languishes in Barlinnie prison in
Glasgow," Mr Dalyell told MPs.
"His name is Abdelbaset al Megrahi. Before
parliament rises, the House ought to get an
undertaking that the British government, yes the
British government, and not a highly controversial
devolved Crown Office in Edinburgh, will address
certain questions."
The Labour MP noted: "Our country's relations with
the Arab world have not been devolved to a
Scottish parliament."
He said Mary Boylam, a former police constable,
had been asked to give a statement to the
procurator fiscal regarding her activities at
Lockerbie.
As the request had come almost 11 years after the
event, the retired WPC phoned Livingston police
station to ask for her notebook. She was told it had
gone missing.
"Who gave the instruction for the destruction of the
notebooks?" asked Mr Dalyell. "After all, this was
the biggest murder trial unresolved in Scottish legal
history.
"The answer to this question is more likely to be
found not in Edinburgh but in London."
Mr Dalyell recounted how Ms Boylam had
discovered the handle and rim of a suitcase in a
field near the crash scene.
The Father of the Commons said the WPC found
out the suitcase belonged to Joseph Patrick Curry,
a member of the US Army special forces. Later,
she was told by a colleague it was the suitcase
which contained the bomb.
"If the bomb was in Curry's suitcase, Mr Megrahi is
hardly likely to be guilty," said Mr Dalyell.
Stephen Twigg, junior privy council minister, said
that, although he could not comment directly, Mr
Dalyell had had "the opportunity to ventilate the
issue".
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Macdonald Stainsby
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