Kenny MacAskill should have sought second opinion before freeing Lockerbie bomber, says inquiry

Published on Thursday 4 February 2010 21:41

THE SNP government's handling of the release of the Lockerbie bomber has been attacked by an opposition-dominated Holyrood committee, which said the case should trigger fresh reforms to the justice system.

• "The committee believes it was inappropriate for the cabinet secretary to visit Mr al-Megrahi in Greenock prison." Picture: TSPL

A report by the Scottish Parliament's justice committee into the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi said justice secretary Kenny MacAskill should have sought a second medical opinion before agreeing to set him free last summer.

It also concluded he was wrong to have visited the bomber in Greenock jail last summer before his decision and that not enough consideration was given to releasing him to an address in Scotland.

However, the committee was divided along party lines on almost all its recommendations, with the three SNP members all backing Mr MacAskill and later accusing the opposition parties of a political "stitch-up".

The only issue on which the MSPs all agreed was on the need to clarify the rules on compassionate release, under which the bomber was allowed to go home.

Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 atrocity, is suffering from prostate cancer and he was released last August after the justice secretary concluded he was on the verge of dying.

Mr MacAskill had received a report from the Scottish Prison Service's director of health and care, Dr Andrew Fraser, which said it was "reasonable" to conclude Megrahi had only three months to live. Scottish Prison Service advice suggests a three-month prognosis makes a prisoner eligible for consideration for compassionate release.

It emerged after the release that Dr Fraser had based this prognosis on the evidence of only one un-named doctor. Several other specialists had declared they were unwilling to offer a time-limit on Megrahi's life. The committee concluded that, "given the acute sensitivities" of the case, there should have been a second opinion.

It added that it had been "inappropriate" to visit Megrahi in person. The bomber used that meeting to plea for mercy, begging Mr MacAskill to allow him to see his family in Libya.

The report concluded: "If Mr Megrahi was to be granted compassionate release, much greater consideration should have been given to the possibility of release to an address in Scotland rather than Libya."

As it is, Megrahi is now officially on licence and is being monitored by video link by a criminal justice social worker in East Renfrewshire Council.

The committee was unanimous in its view that the terms of compassionate release now needed to be clarified in the wake of the case, saying the guidance provided by the Scottish Prison Service was "unsatisfactory".

Since Christmas, little has been heard from the bomber, who has now been in Libya for nearly six months.

Labour leader Iain Gray said last night: "The decision to release Megrahi was the wrong one and it is also clear that it was after a completely botched process."

Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken MSP said: "The prognosis was clearly questionable. Some six months after being given three months to live, he is still alive."

But SNP committee member Stewart Maxwell said the opposition had made a mockery of its position by refusing to call witnesses beyond the justice secretary.

He said: "Parliamentary time and resources have been wasted on what was a political stitch-up by the opposition to push their own partisan prejudices.

"They had made their mind up before we even held this inquiry. The proof of that is the fact they called no other witnesses bar the Cabinet secretary and his officials."