A father details his loss, grief, and fight for the truth following his daughter’s death in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 was the largest attack on Britain since World War II. 259 passengers and 11 townsfolk of Lockerbie were murdered. Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime. He maintained his innocence until his death in 2012. Among the passengers was Flora, beloved daughter of Dr Jim Swire. Jim accepted American claims that Libya was responsible, but during the Lockerbie Trial he began to distrust key witnesses and supposed firm evidence. Since then, it has been revealed that the United States paid millions of dollars to two central identification witnesses, and the only forensic evidence central to the prosecution has been discredited. The book takes us along Dr. Swire’s journey as his initial grief and loss becomes a campaign to uncover the truth behind not only a personal tragedy but one of the modern world’s most shocking events. Praise for The Lockerbie Bombing “It is hard to read this book without concluding that Dr Swire is right, and that for reasons that are both understandable and shameful, successive British governments repeated obstructed the investigation and they did so at the instigation of our American allies. . . . This book recounts Swire’s long and painful search for the truth about Lockerbie and his version is persuasive. It is disturbing too because, if he has it right, the Scottish judges who have now three times rejected appeals against the original verdict, have made it hard to have confidence in the integrity of our law.” —The Scotsman “Fascinating, compelling—a book about international intrigue, personal feelings, and ethics. Right at its heart is the search for truth.” —Kate Adie “Lockerbie's heartrending epitaph. . . . A shattering tale of grief and love.” —Daily Mail

On 21 December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 departed London Heathrow for New York. Shortly after take-off, a bomb detonated, killing all aboard and devastating the small Scottish town of Lockerbie below. Only one man has ever been convicted of the crime: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, though few believe that he acted alone. In 2009, a request was made by Libya for al-Megrahi's release from prison on compassionate grounds after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The decision to grant or deny that request fell squarely and exclusively on the shoulders of one man: Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Justice Secretary from 2007 to 2014. Detailing the build-up to the atrocity and the carnage left in its wake, MacAskill narrates the international investigation that followed and the diplomatic intrigue that saw a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. He describes the controversial release of al-Megrahi, explains the international dimensions involved and lays bare the commercial and security interests that ran in the background throughout the investigation and trial. Finally, he answers how and why it happened – and who was really responsible for the worst terrorist attack to have occurred on British soil before or since.

For most Americans, the words “Lockerbie, Scotland” evoke one image: the iconic photograph of the battered nose cone of a Pan Am jumbo jet surrounded by bodies, investigators, and debris on a lonely hillside. For members of the Syracuse University community, the words represent the loss of 35 students, who died returning from a semester abroad when their jet exploded over Lockerbie. The terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, killed all 259 people aboard, plus 11 Lockerbie residents, in a tragedy that remained the deadliest terror attack on U.S. citizens until 9/11. The event forever linked the U.S. with Lockerbie, whose residents provided unsparing help and sympathy to victims’ families. Greatly touched by the warmth and generosity of Lockerbie's inhabitants, two Syracuse University professors and a group of student writers and photographers set out to expand the world’s understanding of the small town—its history and nature, and the lives of its residents—redefining Lockerbie beyond the events of one fateful day. On many trips over 12 years, photography professor Lawrence Mason, Jr., and magazine professor Melissa Chessher brought more than 50 students to capture the town in images and words. Through stunning photographs and personal vignettes, Looking for Lockerbie introduces to the world some of Lockerbie’s most engaging personalities, events, and places: its last milk delivery man, its boy racers, and a local model; a Burns supper and the town’s annual gala; its cheese factory, its high school, one of the area’s few remaining rural schools, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, and many of the castles, ancient stone sites, and Roman landmarks that make this borderland town historically significant. The book celebrates the connection between a “wee” Scottish town and an American university, forged from the grief and sorrow arising from a single horrific air disaster.

'You know me as the Lockerbie bomber. I know that I'm innocent. Here, for the first time, is my true story: how I came to be blamed for Britain's worst mass murder, my nightmare decade in prison and the truth about my controversial release. Please read it and decide for yourself. You are now my jury'. (Abdelbaset al-Megrahi). For the first time the man known as 'the Lockerbie bomber' tells his story. This long-awaited book argues that, far from being an unrepentant terrorist, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the innocent victim of dirty politics, a flawed investigation and judicial folly. Based on exclusive interviews with Megrahi himself, and conclusive new evidence, it destroys the prosecution case and puts the Scottish criminal justice system in the dock. Megrahi: You Are My Jury makes a compelling argument that the murderers of the 270 Lockerbie victims were acting on behalf of an entirely different government, rather than Colonel Gadafy and Libya.

The top FBI official who managed all aspects of the investigation for the US reveals what it took to bring two Libyans to trial in this inside story of the 12-year investigation of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.

Published to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Britain's worst terrorist attack

What the investigation of the Pan Am 103 incident revealed and how this first evidence was pieced together.