Megrahi death: Lockerbie attack crossed barriers of age, sex and nationality

The 270 victims of the Pan-Am 103 attack all had their own story.

A total of 189 of those killed were American, mostly from the states of New Jersey and New York. There were victims from 20 other nations. A total of 43 of the dead were from the UK, including 11 from Lockerbie.

The youngest to perish were a pair of two-month-old babies, and the eldest was retired doctor Ibolya Drucker, from Hungary, who was 79.

Travellers on the flight included hairdressers, lawyers, teachers, engineers and a financial consultant, and many who served in the US military.

There were also two female playwrights, a professional golfer, four CIA officers, a diplomat, a Nazi-hunter named Michael Bernstein and Bernt Wilmar Carlsson, who worked at the United Nations.

One of those killed was Flora Swire, daughter of campaigner, Dr Jim Swire. She died just a day before her 24th birthday as she travelled to the US to spend Christmas with her boyfriend.

Peter Dix, 35, was travelling to New York as part of his job as a management consultant when he was killed, along with 21-year-old student John Flynn on his way home to the US.

Theodora “Theo” Cohen had decided to take part in Syracuse University’s London program, along with friend Nicole Boulanger who had a passion for theatre, and both called home before setting out on the flight from Heathrow.

Melina Hudson’s parents were surprised that she would be coming home on 21 December when that was not the plan.

In Lockerbie itself, four members of one family, Jack and Rosalind Somerville and their children Paul, 13, and Lynsey, 10, died in the explosion when the wing section crashed into their property.