The Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie bombing made an unexplained trip to Malta using a false passport and an assumed name, appeal judges were told yesterday.
The Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie bombing made an unexplained trip to Malta using a false passport and an assumed name, appeal judges were told yesterday.
He arrived the day the bomb that killed 270 people was planted at the island's Luqa Airport and left the following morning, said Ronnie Clancy QC.
"At no stage was any significant evidence offered as to the issue or use of the passport in any innocent connection.
"The only evidence about that was a false denial of the possession of the passport."
Despite rumours that have been circulating for days that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi will drop his appeal in exchange for a return to Libya, the hearing continued at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
The 57-year-old former intelligence officer has terminal prostrate cancer.
Libyan diplomats and relatives of some of those who died in the 1988 bombing were in court.
Defence QC Maggie Scott has been arguing that no reasonable jury would have found al Megrahi guilty and that there was not sufficient evidence, in law, to convict him.
Mr Clancy, for the Crown, has now begun the task of trying to demolish the defence claims by reminding the five appeal judges of the reasons why their colleagues found al Megrahi guilty in 2001.
"No explanation for the visit to Malta the evening before the device was on the plane and departed for Tripoli the following morning," said Mr Clancy.
"It is clear beyond doubt that the court is linking the use of the passport with the commission of the offence," he said.
If the Libyan wins this round of his long-running appeal he could go home a free man. If the court, led by Lord Justice General Lord Hamilton, rules against him, al Megrahi still has other challenges to his conviction that are yet to be argued.
The bombing of the United States-bound Pan Am flight in 1988 is regarded as the worst crime in Scottish legal history because of the death toll among passengers and on the ground.
After much diplomatic wrangling al Megrahi and another Libyan, al Amin Khalifa Fhimah surrendered and were put on trial in a special high-security courtroom constructed at the Zeist military installation in Holland.
Three judges heard the evidence without a jury and acquitted Fhimah in 2001. Al Megrahi was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 27 years before being considered for release.
Five judges then heard an appeal in 2002 against conviction by al Megrahi but decided that the guilty verdict for the murder of 270 people should stand.
His case was then taken up by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which looks into possible miscarriages of justice, and a fresh appeal was ordered.
