New Lockerbie bomber doubts

Megrahi's lawyer yesterday voiced concerns about the evidence of prosecution witness Allen Feraday, who testified during the trial.

His comments came after a Newsnight Scotland report said that three men who the forensic scientist also gave evidence against have since had their convictions quashed.

The programme said it understood that papers about Mr Feraday's evidence was sent to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which is investigating Megrahi's conviction.

A total of 270 people died when the US passenger jet Pam Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988.

In 2001, judges at a special court at Camp Zeist in Holland found Megrahi guilty of murder. His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was cleared.

An appeal made later by Megrahi was refused.

During the trial, Mr Feraday, now retired after 42 years' experience in explosives, told the judges that he was in no doubt that a fragment of circuit board found after the disaster was part of the detonator.

However, in three separate cases, men against whom Mr Feraday gave evidence have now had their convictions overturned. The latest was last month when Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, ruled that the conviction of Hassan Assali, 53, on terrorist conspiracy charges was unsound.

In 1983 Mr Feraday was a witness against John Berry, who was jailed for selling timers to the Middle East. The conviction was quashed in 1993 after experts challenged Mr Feraday's evidence.

He was also a witness in the 1987 trial of Danny McNamee, jailed over the IRA's 1982 Hyde Park Bomb. That conviction was quashed in 1998.

Eddie McKechnie, a solicitor who represented Megrahi at the Lockerbie trial, asserted that the information provoked "serious issues" about the conviction. "It is a factor that I take very seriously into account on behalf of Mr Megrahi," he said.

"One would have thought that when a professional and a government forensic expert is impugned in a number of cases... serious issues arise."

Mr Feraday, who was head of the forensic explosives laboratory at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) in Kent, could not be contacted last night.

Dr Jim Swire, who led the campaign for justice after losing his daughter Flora in the bombing, felt the previous cases "undermine one's confidence" in Megrahi's life sentence.

He said: "I'm personally not satisfied of Mr Megrahi's guilt. I emerged [from the trial] riddled with doubts. This will of course augment them.

"If one finds that three cases have been overturned, it rather undermines one's confidence."

However, American lawyer Jody Flowers, who represents one woman whose husband died in the bombing, called the latest claims "much ado about nothing".

She said: "I don't think it has much impact at all. I think it is a bit of a belated and half-hearted attempt.

"Any serious challenge to Mr Feraday's credibility or the specifics of his testimony would have been raised at the trial or the appeal, and they were not. The court accepted his testimony as reliable."

Professor Brian Caddy, former head of forensic science at Strathclyde University, said expert witnesses underwent thorough checks to ensure they had enough experience before taking the stand.

However, he said there was always a danger that witnesses could stray into areas outwith their field of expertise when giving evidence.

"The witness box can be a pretty lonely place. Lawyers are expert in presenting questions in a certain way and it is always possible that you can mistakenly stray outside your area of competence," Prof Caddy said.

The SCCRC is not expected to decide whether or not to refer Megrahi's case to the appeal court until next year at the earliest.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "It is not possible to comment on any issues which might be considered by the SCCRC.

"However, the scientific evidence in the case did not depend solely on the evidence of Allen Feraday; there were a number of other expert witnesses who also testified."