This series is based on the events and aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. It is inspired by the work and research of Jim Swire in the years that followed the disaster. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth I, captions, Sky Atlantic 2024
21st December 1988: [local #1]: I don’t know. They said they were crash investigators or something.
[local #2]: They got here awfully quick. ibid.
The small quiet town of Lockerbie is waking up this morning to the sheer unmitigated horror of Britain’s worst air-crash. 259 people were on board Pan Am flight 103 when it exploded over the Scottish town. ibid. Journalist Murray
Intelligence sources believe it to have been a revenge attack by Iran. ibid. TV news
All I do know is that they were here before anyone else. ibid. local #1
The public never got that warning. Pan Am flight to New York was four days before Christmas. ibid. Murray to Jim
Bomb Warming Ignored: US Received Notice of Aviation Bomb Threat Preceding Pan Am 103 Tragedy … Embassy Officials Cautioned About Bomb Threat. ibid. newspaper headlines
Paul Channon, the Transport Secretary, has today been sacked by the prime minister as part of her cabinet reshuffle. ibid. TV news
How did a bomb get through airport security and on to Flight 103? ibid. Jim
The Inquiry that Dr Swire is asking for will be counterproductive to Britain’s international standing and its fight against terrorism. ibid. Cecil Parkinson
You failed to alert your airports to three legitimate threats. You failed to keep your passengers safe. You failed in your duty. No, you withheld information, minister. ibid. Jim to Parkinson
I will never stop. Not until we know the answer to everything. ibid. Jim
I’ve just heard Thatcher’s ordered an independent Inquiry. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth II, Murray to Jim
You brought that with you on a plane? Is that Semtex? ibid. US family support group
I wasn’t stopped once. Now I’m sorry of this upsets some of you. I wanted it to be impossible for me to do this this. Believe me. The fact is, it wasn’t. And people need to know. ibid. Jim
Now two years later, two suspects have finally been identified. ibid. TV news
What’s this, Basset? Why are they showing your picture? ibid. wife watching Libyan television
President Bush rang Thatcher three months after Lockerbie and told her, Lay off Iran. ibid. Murray to Jim
In the Middle East you have standing. ibid. Libyan journalist to Jim
Jim Swire has been duped by Gaddafi. ibid. US support group member
The Libyan government has finally agreed to allow the suspects to be tried in neutral territory under Scottish law. ibid.
It’s important that we live in a society where the legal system cannot be manipulated for political ends. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth III, comment outside court
These men are guilty and we will get a conviction. ibid. US Justice dude to Jim et al
My Lord, the accused plead Not Guilty. ibid. brief
To find something so critical among millions and millions of pieces of debris. ibid.
I am right. This is not the same fragment I was shown in Scotland. ibid. manufacturer of timer
You don’t think it’s odd? The DOJ are not part of the trial yet they’re here every single day. ibid. Murray to Jim
Did the police just keep going back to him till they got the story they wanted? ibid.
This is a court of law. Giaka was paid for his evidence? ibid. Jim to DOJ dude
There was two new cases lying in the container when I got back from my tea break. ibid. Heathrow baggage handler
That would destroy the whole basis of the trial. ibid. Murray to Jim
It would have exploded between 35 and 45 minutes into its first flight. Flight 103 could only have been brought down by this type of devide if it had been primed or put on board at Heathrow. ibid. German expert
They didn’t do it. They didn’t put that bomb on the plane. ibid. Jim to wife
They’ve been set up. They’ve been framed. The case against them is a fiction, is a lie. They’re innocent. ibid.
It was presented as a foregone conclusion from the very first day. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth IV, Jim to wife
Nothing in this case adds up. Nothing. ibid.
All that blood on his hands. How can you of all people be able to be in the same room as him? ibid. Screw to Jim
I will spend 20 years in a foreign jail for a crime I did not commit. ibid. Basset to Jim
They lied. They deceived. They succeeded. ibid.
Most people think he did it. And now, most people just want to forget. ibid. Murray to Jim
I want to be around life, not death. ibid. wife to Jim
We had telephone intercepts of them discussing it. Two days after Lockerbie, Iran transferred $11 million into a PFLP-GC. We have records of the transfer. Hell, we had ironclad proof. ibid. CIA whistleblower
Libya has oil, remember. ibid.
Undisclosed secret Intelligence documents. ibid. defence lawyer
You can’t. We run the story past the FCO for comment. Got a call back threatening legal action. The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, issued a Public Interest Immunity Certificate, a PIIC. ibid. newspaper lawyer to Murray
I will never give up my appeal. ibid. Basset
You must make a decision. And make it fast. Your appeal or our freedom. ibid. shady dudes pay Basset a visit
Britain’s biggest mass-murderer is now a free man, showed mercy by Scotland’s Justice Secretary. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth V
Has Megrahi killed your search for justice stone dead? ibid. US hostile call to Jim
Surely his hand must have been forced. ibid. Jim to Megrahi’s UK appeal lawyers
You remember when Blair met Gaddafi in 2004? The Deal in the Desert. Eh? Well they met again in 2007. And BP signed a £90 million deal. And in that second meeting, Blair and Gaddafi signed a prisoner transfer agreement. Now I reckon that was only about one man. The British wanted into those oil fields desperately. ibid. Murray to Jim
There was no deal. I can give you an absolute unconditional assurance. ibid. Brown
The last 20 years of my life wasted with no-one to blame but myself. ibid. Jim to wife
I am no use to anyone as an innocent man. Only to you. ibid. Basset to Jim