New Hearing In Lockerbie Appeal Bid

A hearing will take place at a later date to decide whether relatives of Lockerbie bombing victims could pursue an appeal on behalf of the only man convicted of the atrocity.

A group of British relatives maintain they have a legitimate interest'' in trying to get the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi back before a court for a full appeal.

They believe the Libyan, who died protesting his innocence in his home country in 2012, was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and say his conviction should be overturned.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which is once again looking at Megrahi's conviction, has asked the High Court for guidance on whether members of the victims' families can take forward such an appeal on the convicted man's behalf.

A brief procedural hearing took place before judge Lady Dorrian at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh today to examine the SCCRC's petition.

The judge ordered a further hearing to take place, on a date yet to be fixed, for all the issues surrounding the commission's request to be aired.

The one-day hearing is expected to take place later this year.

Megrahi was found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the south of Scotland on December 21 1988 in which 270 people were killed.

He died after abandoning his second appeal, which itself came after the SCCRC referred the case back to senior High Court judges in 2007.

Since June last year, the SCCRC has been considering a fresh, joint application from members of Megrahi's family and the Justice for Megrahi campaign group, which includes relatives of British victims of the bombing, to review the conviction.

It is believed to be an unprecedented move - the first time in UK legal history that relatives of murdered victims have united with the relatives of a convicted deceased in such a way.

But the SCCRC previously said that despite repeated requests, members of Megrahi's family have failed to provide appropriate evidence supporting their involvement in the application and it concluded that the application was being actively supported only by the members of the victims' families.

Previous court decisions have meant that only the executor of a dead person's estate or their next of kin could proceed with such a posthumous application.

The SCCRC, therefore, wants to determine if a member of the victims' families - such as Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing - might be classed as a ''person with a legitimate interest to pursue an appeal'' in the event that it decides to refer the case back to the High Court for a third appeal.

After hearing brief submissions on the way forward today, Lady Dorrian ruled: I shall continue this for a hearing on all issues, including any preliminary matters, to a date hereafter to be fixed.''

Dr Swire and Aamer Anwar, solicitor for the Megrahi family and relatives of the deceased victims, were among those at court.

In paperwork lodged with the court, they are calling for the SCCRC's petition for guidance to be dismissed, claiming it is incompetent'' in law.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Anwar said: Relatives of the Lockerbie victims instructing my firm maintain that they have a legitimate interest in pursuing an appeal and they will continue to seek the truth.

But as proceedings are live, it would be inappropriate to comment further.''