WHEN Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of 270 counts of murder for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, special agent Dick Marquise squeezed the hand of his FBI colleague and exclaimed a triumphant “Yes!”
But this week, with the release of a new BBC drama about the downing of the airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland, he describes his bitter regret that not all the perpetrators have been brought to justice.
AFPPolicemen stand near the wreckage of the 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie[/caption]
AFP or licensorsResidents take stock of the shocking damage caused by the explosion[/caption]
Louis WoodDick Marquise was the first FBI agent at the Lockerbie bombing scene[/caption]
BBCThe horrific terror attack is depicted in a new BBC drama[/caption]
Alleged co-conspirator Lamin Fhimah was found not guilty of carrying out the 1988 atrocity – the deadliest terror attack in UK history – at the same trial.
And Dick, 77, is convinced there were at least four more Libyan nationals involved in the plot who they were never able to charge.
In an exclusive interview, he revealed: “There are certainly regrets.
“We do this job so we can look the families in the eyes and say, ‘We got justice for your relatives.’
“But when I spoke at a memorial service in Arlington, Virginia, I apologised.
“I told the victims’ families: ‘My one big regret is that we didn’t get everybody.’
“I always hoped Megrahi would confess and he would tell us what happened.
“But his family was well taken care of, he became a martyr and he was pretty well catered to in jail in Scotland.”
Sitting in a restaurant in central London during an emotional return to the UK, Dick reels off the names of those he believes evaded justice, most or all of whom are now dead.
They include ‘engineer’ Ezzedine Hinshiri, spy chief Abdullah Senussi, intelligence officer Said Rashid and Libyan Arab Airlines executive Badri Hassan.
Alleged bomb maker Abu Agela Masud is another on his list and he is due to stand trial in the States, having been arrested in 2022.
New documents uncovered by French investigative journalists Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille, and Libyan activist Samir Shegwara, are said to confirm that Libya’s Jamahiriya Security Organisation (JSO) conspired to plant a bomb in a suitcase loaded aboard Pan Am Flight 103.
The Detroit-bound plane was less than 40 minutes into its ascent from London Heathrow when, at just after 7pm on 21 December 1988, the device went off at 30,000ft – causing debris to rain down over an area of 845 square miles, creating the largest crime scene ever formed.
All 259 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 747 “Clipper Maid of the Seas” – including 190 US citizens – were killed and 11 more died when parts of the plane impacted with the ground.
More than 5,000 responders combed the countryside for clues afterwards and 319 tonnes of wreckage was found and taken as evidence.
During the investigation, 10,000 individuals were interviewed in 16 countries.
But it was only when a tiny fragment determined that the bomb had been placed inside a radio – and a second fragment identified the explosive timer – that the trail led to Libya.
Hulton Archive – GettyA mock-up of the explosive-laden cassette player that destroyed the plane[/caption]
ReutersAbdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifa Fhimah were both tried over the attacks, but the latter walked free[/caption]
Megrahi and Fhimah were charged in 1991 and their trial was held in a specially built Scottish court on former US military base Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.
In 2003, dictator Muammar Gaddafi accepted Libya was responsible and agreed to pay $1billion in compensation to victims’ families.
There were rumours he struck in revenge for the killing of his adopted daughter in a US airstrike.
However, Gaddafi always maintained that he did not personally order the attack.
Conspiracy theories
And the case has been beset with conspiracy theories pointing the finger at other terror outfits including the Palestinian group, PFLP-GC.
Dr Jim Swire, 89 – whose daughter Flora was amongst the victims, and who was recently played by actor Colin Firth in the Sky Atlantic drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth – is convinced Megrahi was framed for political reasons.
Dick hits back: “I respect Dr Swire, I respect his opinion. I don’t agree with it and I’ve told him as much.
“When I watched the Colin Firth drama and they snuck in the conspiracy theory about the planting of the fragment, well, it smacks all of us in the face, the suggestion we were corrupt.
“I know how the evidence was collected and how it was preserved. I know how it was protected. Those things just didn’t happen.
“I’m 99.9 per cent certain that Masud armed the bomb and Megrahi and Fhimah arranged for it to be put on the plane.
“The plane took off and Megrahi and Musad flew back to Libya 30 minutes later and Fhimah went back 10 days later.
“Gaddafi had a lot of control over his intelligence agencies, but I can’t say for certain that he gave the order.”
Dr Jim Swire, the father of Lockerbie bombing victim Flora SwireDamien McFadden
Nick McGowan-LoweFlora was one of the hundreds of innocent victims killed in the attack[/caption]
Graeme HunterDr Swire was portrayed by Colin Firth in a recent drama[/caption]
Traumatic toll
Father-of-three Dick today reveals the huge toll the investigation took on his health.
He said: “When we started, we had a ton of information coming in from all over the world and I was in the office about 18 hours a day.
“You want to do the right thing, you want justice for the families.
“I only had one person tell me, ‘If this gets f***ed up, it’s your career.’
I didn’t have a day off for at least a month. I had a lot of stress and it was all internal.
Dick Marquise
“I had lots of trips to the hospital emergency room with chest pains.
“I had an ulcer in my chest and it took three years to diagnose it.
“There were at least three trips to the ER and this was right before the indictment time (in late 1991).
“It was exacerbated by the travelling. I did 17 trips in about two years.
“I had two teenagers and a younger one and boys are a handful. My wife Pat was a real trooper and she held down the fort and managed those kids.”
Killer’s last laugh
Megrahi was given a life sentence in 2001, but he was released on compassionate grounds eight years later having been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
He received a hero’s welcome on his return to Libya and spent his final days living in a villa in the capital Tripoli before he died in 2012.
Dick acted as a consultant on the new BBC series The Bombing of Pan Am 103, which started this week.
He believes the drama shows how the probe set new standards for international co-operation, thanks in part to the strong bond he formed with his UK counterpart Stuart Henderson, who died aged 79 in 2019.
Getty Images – GettyThe reconstructed remains of Pan Am Flight 103[/caption]
AFP or licensorsLocal resident Robert Love stands by one of the four engines of the aircraft that landed out of the sky[/caption]
GettyDictator Muammar Gaddafi accepted Libya was responsible[/caption]
Dick said: “Stuart and I were like brothers. We were close for 30 years and he was a wonderful guy.
“I was a pallbearer at his funeral and his death deeply affected me. Going back and walking around Lockerbie, it brings back a lot of memories.
“He and I built rapport and that was something that was missing in the early days of the investigation when we were all fighting each other.
“When the verdict came in, Stuart sat behind me and I was next to FBI agent Phil Reid – and we were literally holding hands.
“They announced Megrahi first and said ‘guilty’ and I remember squeezing Phil’s hand and we went, ‘Yes!’
“But when Fhimah was acquitted, we said: ‘That just doesn’t make sense.’
“We were dejected afterwards, thinking how can they let him go?
“And when we got the sentence, someone calculated it was 27 days for every murder.
“Megrahi was released in 2009, so he didn’t even get that long. It was hugely frustrating.”
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 continues on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Sunday at 9pm.
ReutersAn artist’s impression of the courtroom where the two Libyans accused in the 1988 attack were tried[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationForensics photos show debris from the blast[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
