A HUSH fell over the room as Lord Fraser of Carmyllie steeled himself for the most dramatic announcement of his life. In the august, dark wood-panelled rooms of the Crown Office in Edinburgh, the then Lord Advocate revealed the names of those accused of one of the world’s worst terrorist atrocities.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, agents of the Libyan intelligence service, were wanted on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder for the downing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Dumfriesshire town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, with the loss of 270 lives.

“Warrants have been issued,” Fraser revealed to the world’s media packed into the cramped room. “The two accused should surrender themselves for trial.” Fifteen years on, Fraser should be reflecting on the successful administration of justice. Following an unprecedented trial heard by three Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands, one of the two Libyans, Megrahi, is now languishing in a Scottish jail, serving a life sentence for the crime. His co-accused was cleared of involvement.

As Scotland’s most senior legal officer when Megrahi was indicted, Fraser played a crucial role in bringing the Libyan to book. Yet he has now joined a growing number of people to voice disquiet about the legal proceedings which resulted in the subsequent conviction.

Fraser’s apparent concern over the reliability of Tony Gauci, the principal witness in the trial upon whose evidence the case against Megrahi hung, follows a recent steady drip of “revelations” which have stoked the fires of conspiracy.

That Megrahi’s appeal to the Scottish criminal cases review commission is imminent is perhaps no coincidence but some of the new evidence appears more compelling than that presented at his trial and subsequent appeal.

The Crown’s case rested on a theory that the Lockerbie bomb was hidden inside a Toshiba radio-cassette player packed inside a Samsonite suitcase and wrapped in clothing. Fingertip searches of the crash site found remains of these items covered in explosive residue. Investigators claimed both the suitcase and clothing were linked to Megrahi. However, earlier this year a senior Scottish police officer, now retired, was reported to have accused American intelligence agents of planting a circuit board fragment, identified as part of a sophisticated explosive timing device made by Swiss firm Mebo and only supplied to Libya and the East German Stasi. The officer has given a statement to Megrahi’s lawyers.

The commission will also be asked to consider the reliability of Allen Feraday, an expert forensic scientist who confirmed the circuit board fragment was part of a detonator. At least three other convictions in which Feraday gave evidence have been quashed.

The commission will also be asked to consider apparent anomalies suggesting that forensic evidence presented by the Crown came from tests conducted months after the terror attack. To prove that the bomb was inside the case, investigators set off a series of explosions using an identical suitcase and contents to check how they would be damaged. Megrahi’s lawyers believe material produced during the tests was presented to the court as if it were the original suitcase.

Earlier this month it was reported that the British, American and Libyan governments were negotiating the transfer of Megrahi to a prison in his home country on the condition that he drops his appeal. It was a proviso of his conviction that he serve his 27-year jail term in Scotland.

Such a deal would suggest the British and American governments would prefer the case was not reopened, especially given that a successful appeal could sour their new détente with Libya and would prove highly embarrassing for the Scottish judicial system.

Fraser’s intervention raises fresh questions about the reliability of evidence presented by Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper who claimed he sold Megrahi the clothes that were wrapped around the bomb.

Megrahi was charged following an international investigation co-ordinated by detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police. During their three-year investigation, and with help from police and intelligence forces around the world, they interviewed 15,000 witnesses, checked 20,000 names and analysed 180,000 pieces of evidence.

Times Recommends

• Phoebe Caldwell wins Times/Sternberg Award
• Raging against fake pop has its own pitfalls
• How a voice for everyone led to stalemate