The Lockerbie bomber wants to stay in Scotland for medical treatment if he is freed from jail next week.

The Lockerbie bomber wants to stay in Scotland for medical treatment if he is freed from jail next week.

Less than two weeks ago it was revealed that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

And the disease has spread to other parts of the 56-year-old's body.

Al Megrahi was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years when he was convicted of killing 270 people in the bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1998.

However he is currently appealing his conviction, and a legal hearing to consider whether he should be released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal will take place next week.

Today it emerged that if he is granted interim freedom at Thursday's hearing, Al Megrahi wants to stay in Scotland for medical treatment rather than return home to Libya.

However, his lawyer indicated his client could opt for private treatment rather than NHS care.

Solicitor Tony Kelly said: "I don't think there would be any bar to him accessing the health service, but he would probably take care of it himself.

"There wouldn't be an incursion on the public purse."

Al Megrahi was taken from his prison cell in Greenock Prison under tight security to undergo tests at the town's Inverclyde Royal Hospital in September.

After that it was revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer, with Mr Kelly stating the disease was at an "advanced stage".

Al Megrahi was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 2001.

He lost an appeal in 2002, but was given a fresh chance to clear his name in June last year when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred his case back to appeal judges for a second time.

That appeal is due to be heard next year.

The Libyan won a legal victory last month in the latest stage of his bid to overturn his conviction.

Judges ruled that his appeal could have a wide-ranging focus, looking beyond the issues raised by the SCCRC when it suggested he might have suffered a miscarriage of justice.

The bombing Pan Am flight 103 killed all 259 men, women and children on board as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie, who died when aircraft wreckage fell, causing a huge fireball which devastated parts of the town.