Scotland to review Lockerbie bombing

After Abdel Baset al-Megrahi dropped an appeal against his conviction earlier this year, a review of the evidence was undertaken, the head of the Dumfries and Galloway Police said.

Chief Constable Patrick Shearer said detectives have previously looked at the evidence to try to find new leads in the bombing, and this review is the latest in a series reflecting “our determination to pursue every possible lead.’’

Pan Am Flight 103, bound from London’s Heathrow Airport to New York, exploded over Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. All 259 people aboard - mainly Americans - and 11 people on the ground were killed when the airliner crashed into the town of Lockerbie.

The police statement was issued after a Sunday newspaper reported that British relatives of the victims on Pan Am Flight 103 were told in an e-mail that officers were considering several potential lines of inquiry, including a review of the forensic evidence.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted the e-mail as saying further elaboration would be inappropriate, “but please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an ‘open’ case.’’

It was not clear yesterday whether the US relatives of victims of the bombing had been notified that the case was being reviewed. Three families in New England with relatives who died in the bombing said they had not received any information about an investigation.

“We certainly haven’t heard anything of it,’’ said Ervin Philipps of Boston, whose daughter, Sarah Susannah Buchanan Philipps, was killed in the bombing. “I don’t know if I would be comforted by it, but it certainly is something that we value in our society - if there is evidence that warrants additional investigation, people should do it.’’

Next month, Philipps and his wife, Elizabeth, will make their annual trip to Lockerbie in honor of their daughter, a 20-year-old student who was headed home for the holidays when the bomb exploded.

A statement from the Crown Office - Scotland’s prosecuting authority - said the review does not include the question of Megrahi’s involvement.

Megrahi was indicted in 1991 alongside another man, Amin Khalifa Fhimah, with murder and conspiracy to murder. Fhimah was acquitted, but prosecutors at the trial said the pair could not have acted alone.

Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, told the BBC that the investigation into the attack had never been formally closed, and said it was “wholly appropriate’’ for police to move forward if there were grounds.

UK Families Flight 103, a victims’ relatives group, has asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain for an independent, public inquiry into the attack. A spokeswoman said he has received a letter from the group and will reply soon.

But Miliband said any inquiry would be a decision for Scottish government. “This was something that happened over Scottish soil and it was investigated by Scottish authorities,’’ he said.

Carolyn Johnson of the Globe staff contributed to this report.