IT is one of the longest "live" investigations in Scots history, and at its centre is the small Borders town of Dumfries.

Although Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 2001, the Crown Office and police have persistently maintained that they could not comment in detail on the case because it was "live".

The case may have lain dormant for some time, but now the investigation team has been revived with a significant boost. A group of nearly 10 police officers and civilian staff are reviewing the case in anticipation of a breakthrough as a result of the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Earlier this month The Herald revealed that Frank Mulholland, the Lord Advocate, had visited Tripoli to smooth the way for police officers to travel to Libya and scour the capital's official records and government documents in the hope of finding definitive evidence of who was behind the bombing of Pan Am 103 in December 1988.

Officials have said the focus is on "accomplices", but campaigners have questioned why the investigation has not reviewed the new evidence unearthed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and others.

A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Police said: "There have been officers and staff working on this since the change in regime in Libya in order to prepare to move forward. This is a live investigation."