UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Jim Swire, the father of a woman killed in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 says the 25th anniversary celebrations made him proud, though he added he faced his loss every day, not just on anniversaries

Record ID: 899107

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Jim Swire, the father of a woman killed in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 says the 25th anniversary celebrations made him proud, though he added he faced his loss every day, not just on anniversaries
  • Date: 21st December 2013
  • Summary: LOCKERBIE, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 12, 2008) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) DRYFESDALE CEMETERY GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE MEMORIAL STONE DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO DIED IN LOCKERBIE DISASTER
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2014 20:16
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVADTR4QMAF105PB9HVYF4QYX9E0
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The father of a woman who was killed along with 269 others in the Lockerbie bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 in 1988 on Saturday (December 21) said that while the anniversary service held at Westminster Abbey made him proud, his felt his loss every day, not only on anniversaries.
    Memorial services were held in Arlington, Virgina in the U.S. and Lockerbie itself on Saturday, paying tribute to the victims, their family and friends and those involved in the rescue after the disaster.
    But speaking after the service, Dr Jim Swire said that anniversaries like those held in the British capital were not really for the families.

    "We have to face being without our daughter every day of every year, and it's 25 years of that so far," he said.

    "Anniversaries are more, to be honest, media events, and times when the public can, again, remember the terrible thing that happened on that day, and it's a great honour, in a way, for those who died, that they are still remembered as widely as they are, and in a service such as this, which will be, no doubt, broadcast around the world, so I'm proud that's how things are happening," he added.
    Swire has been known for disagreeing with the official version of events that saw Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi the only person ever convicted over the attack.
    Swire, whose daughter Flora, 24, died in the attack, says there are still huge question marks over the disaster, but said it was actually Megrahi's trial that convinced him.

    "I went into that trial believing, as people of my generation did, that my country was laying out before me the truth about what happened, and I thought I was witnessing in the court the two murderers of my daughter," he said.

    "But as the evidence unfolded, and I was there throughout the whole trial, I came to the conclusion that this guy had nothing to do with it, any more than the island of Malta was where the bomb was put on, and it became very clear particularly from forensics that were laid in that court that it wasn't him and that it wasn't the way it was done," he added.

    "It emerged as pretty clear that the way it was done was that a specialised type of bomb was in fact put on board at Heathrow airport, and it hadn't come from Malta, and it hadn't come from Frankfurt," he said.
    Swire said he was now looking to wind down his own efforts to find what he called the truth, due to family commitments.

    "It gets more difficult to justify the effort that is entailed in trying to get to the truth, and my daughter was a great seeker after truth herself, and I've always felt justified in trying to find the truth in who killed her and why her life was not protected, and that has propelled me through 25 years," he said.

    "But I am also aware that if you become too obsessional these things. It can wreck your life and those around you, and I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted me to damage the life of her mum," he added.
    The United States, Britain and Libya on Saturday pledged their full support for efforts by their investigators to bring those behind the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing to justice.
    In a joint statement on the anniversary, the three governments said they were determined to unearth the truth behind the deadliest such attack in Britain.
    Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was the only person ever convicted over the attack.
    He was found guilty, in association with others, of the bombing in 2001 but released from jail on compassionate grounds eight years later amid huge controversy both in Britain and America. He died of cancer last year.
    Megrahi always protested his innocence and his family is considering lodging another appeal to clear his name.
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