Lockerie bomber must serve 27 years in jail
The man who masterminded the Lockerbie bombing must serve at least 27 years in prison, it was ruled today.
Former Libyan secret service agent Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi received a life sentence in 2001 for the bombing of the Pan Am aircraft which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270.
At the time, a tariff of 20 years was set on the sentence – meaning that the judges, Lords Sutherland, McLean and Coulsfield, recommended that he serve a minimum of 20 years before being considered for parole ‘in view of the horrendous nature of this crime’.
However, since the introduction of the Human Rights Act, people facing life sentences have a right to know precisely how long they must serve before being eligible for parole.
In a four minute hearing in Glasgow this morning, Lord Sutherland declared ‘Quite clearly this was a wicked act carried out in the full knowledge that the plan, if successful, would result in the slaughter of many entirely innocent persons’.
However, the relatives of those killed in the bombing have expressed their anger.
Jack Flynn, an American whose son was killed in the attack, pointed out that this amounts to just one month per victim.
‘I would hope that he would spend the rest of his life in prison because of the number of people he deliberately killed’, he declared.
As Mr Al Megrahi was taken into custody in 1999, his sentence will be deemed to have begun then. He will be 74 before he is eligible for release.
