
‘You don't see the trauma until suddenly you do': Lockerbie bombing's lasting impact on a ‘normal little town'
At the end of a row of tidy red brick bungalows in the Scottish town of Lockerbie is an empty plot, carefully landscaped now as a memorial garden. Two red tartan ribbons, tied on a leafless branch perhaps in private remembrance, flutter in a wintry gust.
Eleven of the street's residents died when the wing section of Pan Am 103 crashed into Sherwood Crescent with the force of a meteorite on 21 December 1988, gouging a 30-foot crater on this spot. The impact was such that some bodies were never recovered.
This once anonymous street was recreated in meticulous detail for the filming of the Sky Atlantic series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, which was first screened last month and stars Oscar winner Colin Firth as Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed when a bomb exploded on the Pan Am flight from London bound for New York.
Although the drama has been widely praised, some relatives of the 270 people who lost their lives in what remains the UK's deadliest terrorist atrocity have questioned the need for such graphic depictions of the immediate aftermath. A spokesperson for the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group described it as 'tragedy porn' to the Hollywood news site Deadline while, closer to home, a Lockerbie resident who lost her sister and brother-in-law wrote in the Annandale Herald: 'I don't need to be reminded about the terrible scene that night.'
But for a generation born after 1988, this series may be their first exposure to the tangle of legal proceedings, conspiracy theories and international controversy that has become synonymous with the name of one small town in the south of Scotland.
With a second dramatisation airing on BBC One and Netflix later this year, a new BBC Scotland documentary, and the trial of the alleged bomb-maker starting in the US in May, Lockerbie is likely to remain in the spotlight this year, willingly or otherwise.
'It's the most normal little town in the world,' says the Rev Frances Henderson, minister at Lochmaben and Lockerbie Churches, 'with a strong community, and people are just living their lives.'
'You don't see the trauma until suddenly you do. It's there, being carried and dealt with, a trauma that is part of their lives and has shaped the last decades.'
Henderson has not watched the Colin Firth series herself: 'Not because I object to it but because I feel I'd have to psyche myself up to it.
'I think most people feel it's been done respectfully but neither have I heard of many watching it because it's too real. For those who weren't there, who may be too young to remember, it's perhaps useful, but not for those who were there.'
The Sky Atlantic series was based on Swire's investigations into the bombing. He and many supporters have argued consistently for the innocence of Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was convicted in 2001 at a specially convened Scottish court in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder.
Swire believes al-Megrahi, who was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after a diagnosis of terminal cancer and died in 2011 in Tripoli, was framed to deflect attention from Iranian and Syrian responsibility. This is rejected as conspiracy theory by US victims' relatives, who criticised the series for misrepresenting the trial and portraying al-Megrahi as 'an innocent man that should be empathised with'.
Swire and other UK relatives continue to demand a public inquiry into the failure to take seriously or make public warnings that an attack on a Pan Am flight was imminent, while in May, another Libyan, 72-year-old Abu Agila Masud, will go on trial in Washington, accused of building the bomb that brought down the flight. He denies all charges.
'There has been so much written about the trial and various conspiracy theories, but no one has ever spoken to me about any of that as a constituent,' says Colin Smyth, Scottish Labour MSP for the region.
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
'People of Lockerbie didn't choose for their town to be known for this, but they took their responsibility to the victims very seriously from the first night – like the couple who found a young man in their field and didn't want to leave him so stood vigil until dawn, or the man who scooped up the body of a toddler and drove them into town so they weren't left in the cold and wet.'
'For decades they have welcomed people with open arms as the families of the victims continue to visit their loved ones' last resting place. Those relationships have sustained – you hear of relatives staying at family homes in Lockerbie even now.'
Those relationships are woven through the generations, thanks to the enduring scholarship programme between Lockerbie Academy and Syracuse University, New York, which lost 35 students in the disaster.
This Saturday Lori Carnochan, chair of Tundergarth Kirks Trust, took another group of Syracuse students around the church and memorial room to the east of the town, where the plane's nose cone came to rest.
'Visitors have this image in their head of Lockerbie and they're all so pleasantly surprised – it's not a sombre place. It's a thriving, vibrant community, full of positivity and life, a fantastic place to raise a family.'
Carnochan is leading plans to create a legacy museum at Tundergarth: 'Children and young people need to understand the significance of the worst terrorist attack ever to have happened in the UK and the impact it had not only here in Lockerbie but all over the world, the changes that came about in aviation security and safety because of it.'
'It's so important for them to learn about the incredible acts of loving humanity by the people of Lockerbie in the aftermath, like the women who washed and distributed 11,000 items of personal artefacts and clothing back to the families that otherwise would have been destroyed.
'It's a very difficult thing for many in the town to have to live with – it's widely known many people here have some form of PTSD because of the attack, yet they still open their hearts and homes in the way that they did 36 years ago.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Herald Scotland
7 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Drug policy reform campaigner Peter Krykant dies aged 48
Mr Fitzpatrick later lost his job after Scotland's drugs deaths soared to 1,264 in 2019. Krykant, who battled his own addiction issues, said his mobile injection room saved lives and argued for similar facilities to be set up to cut Scotland's soaring drug deaths. Peter Krykant in the converted ambulance, which allowed drug users a safe space to inject (Image: Mark F Gibson) It has been reported that he was found dead at home in Falkirk . He faced police charges over the ambulance, but these were later dropped. He said: "We are all deeply saddened to hear of Peter's passing. 'Everyone from the Scottish Greens is thinking of his family and friends at this extremely difficult time. "Peter was a tireless campaigner for a fairer, more compassionate approach to handling drug misuse and addiction, and his campaigning has left such an important legacy in the UK's first safe consumption room in Glasgow. "His advocacy for drug reform, and of course, his yellow van have no doubt saved countless lives in Scotland." Police Scotland have said that no suspicious circumstances surround the death at Krykant's home in Larbert, Falkirk, on Monday this week. Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who had helped man the mobile service, which was regarded as illegal at the time, said 48-year-old Krykant's efforts had helped make significant changes to Scotland's drugs policy. READ MORE: Mr Sweeney told The Daily Record: 'I'm shocked and saddened to hear of Peter's death. We can't underestimate the contribution he made to the drugs debate in Scotland, which came amid many years of increasing overdose deaths. 'He undoubtedly played a major part in changing policy in a political a system that was very much set in its ways and resistant to the kind of radical change that Peter advocated.' Earlier this year, The Thistle safe drugs consumption facility opened in Glasgow after years of political wrangling between the Scottish and UK governments, allowing those who inject drugs like heroin and cocaine a safe place to do so, with medical professionals on hand should they be needed. The centre has seen 17 overdoses since it opened, according to service manager Lynn Macdonald in March, some of which she believes would have resulted in death had staff not stepped in.


NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Jury in Harvey Weinstein sex assault retrial have reached a partial verdict
Jurors in the trial against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein said Wednesday they unanimously found him guilty of sexually assaulting one woman and not guilty of assaulting another more than a decade ago. But jurors at Weinstein's retrial told the judge they were unable to reach a verdict on allegations he assaulted a third woman and Judge Curtis Farber asked the jurors to continue deliberating Thursday before sending them home for the day. Weinstein, 73, had denied all the charges and his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were 'transactional' and 'consensual.' The jury weighing the evidence against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in his New York retrial reached a partial verdict after five days of deliberation. Weinstein, 73, who has denied all the allegations, was charged with sexually assaulting three women more than a decade ago. Weinstein found himself on trial again after the New York state Court of Appeals last year overturned his landmark 2020 conviction for sexually abusing young women, a trial that defined the #MeToo movement and helped turn the Oscar-winning producer into a pariah. The appeals court found that the judge in that trial had improperly allowed testimony against the former Miramax chief based on allegations that were not part of the case. During the six-week retrial, jurors heard testimony from a former 'Project Runway' production assistant, Miriam Haley, and actress Jessica Mann, both of whom testified in the 2020 trial. New to the retrial was testimony from a third accuser, Kaja Sokola, a former runway model from Poland. Weinstein's lawyers have argued that the sexual encounters with his three accusers were all 'transactional' and 'consensual.' 'If this person wasn't Harvey Weinstein, would we even be here?' Weinstein defense attorney Arthur Aidala asked during his closing argument in accusing the women of being grifters. Prosecutors, however, said Weinstein preyed on young women trying to make it in Hollywood, sometimes repeatedly, and threatened to wreck their careers if they talked. 'He never had any interest in their careers,' Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told the jury. 'He had an interest in their bodies. And he was going to have their bodies and touch their bodies whether they had wanted him to or not." Just as in 2020, Weinstein did not testify at his retrial. But before the jurors announced they had reached a verdict, he told a FOX5 New York reporter that he acted "immorally" and regretted hurting his wife and family, but never did anything "illegal." "I put so many friends through this and hurt people … that were close to me, by the way, by actions that were stupid," he said. "But never illegal, never criminal, never anything." Much of the evidence that resulted in Weinstein being convicted five years ago of the third-degree rape of one woman and a first-degree criminal sex act against another woman was reintroduced at his retrial. Just as before, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape based on complaints by Haley and Mann. But this time, Weinstein also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of first-degree criminal sexual act in the alleged sexual assault of Sokola. Sokola told the court that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006 at a Manhattan hotel when she was 19 years old. But the alleged abuse began in 2002, when she was 16 and Weinstein forced her to masturbate him, she said. 'Her first sexual experience was the defendant forcing himself on her,' Blumberg said. During his three-hour closing, Aidala tried to poke holes in the testimony of the three accusers. He suggested they were coached by prosecutors to describe the sexual encounters, which he likened at one point to 'naked twister,' in a sinister light. 'They did it all to get the original sinner, the poster boy of the MeToo movement,' Aidala said. The #MeToo hashtag took off in 2017 following reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker that detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein that went back decades. It helped inspire a reckoning in Hollywood and beyond around sexual harassment. Weinstein, Aidala added, made for an easy target. 'He's a fat dude — sorry, Harvey,' he said while the former producer looked on. Aidala insisted the encounters were all 'transactional' and that all three women believed Weinstein could help their careers. 'It's not really a casting couch I thought it was,' Aidala said. 'It's different now. I know it sounds crazy, but he's the one being used.' Blumberg painted a far different picture during the prosecution's closing remarks. 'I want to remind you why we are here,' she said. 'Because he raped three people.' Sokola and Haley both claimed that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in separate incidents in 2006. Mann told the court the producer raped her in 2013. Weinstein, Blumberg said, 'had tremendous control over Hollywood. He spoke, people listened. He decided who was in and who was out.' While Blumberg spoke, Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair, appeared to be listening intently. 'Remember, it's not the person sitting here today in a wheelchair but this man, in Hollywood, who had the power and was in control,' Blumberg said. Regardless of the verdict, Weinstein will most likely be returned to California where he has to serve a 16-year sentence for a 2022 rape conviction. His lawyers filed an appeal for that conviction in 2024 that is still in process. During his latest trial, Weinstein was allowed to stay at Bellevue Hospital where he was being treated for a host of serious health issues. Back in October, two sources told NBC News that Weinstein had been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, an uncommon form of bone marrow cancer. Weinstein was a Hollywood titan in the 1990s and 2000s when he and his brother Bob ran Miramax, the distributor of critically acclaimed independent movies like 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape,' 'The Crying Game,' 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Clerks,' and box office successes like 'Chicago' and 'Bridget Jones's Diary.' In 1999, Weinstein won a best picture Oscar as one of the producers of 'Shakespeare in Love.' And in the early 2010s, his second distribution label, The Weinstein Company, won back-to-back best picture Oscars for 'The King's Speech' and 'The Artist.' But as Weinstein collected accolades, he was dogged by rumors that he preyed on his leading ladies and other women in the industry. By the time he was arrested, more than 80 women had accused him of sexual assault or harassment going back decades. Just as he did at his trials, Weinstein doggedly denied the claims and insisted the encounters were consensual.


Sky News
8 hours ago
- Sky News
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of criminal sexual act in New York retrial
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of committing a criminal sexual act in a retrial in New York. The 73-year-old was found not guilty of another count of committing a criminal sexual act relating to a second woman. The jury has far not recorded a verdict in relation to an allegation of rape against a third woman. Weinstein pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. The case was being retried after an appeals court overturned his 2020 conviction last year. He was accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two other women. Two of the charges were those he faced during the original trial, while the third - one of the charges of forcing oral sex - was added last year. Nearly eight years ago, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning movie producer propelled the #MeToo movement. Some of those accusations later generated criminal charges and convictions in New York and California. Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has denied ever having non-consensual sex or assaulting anyone. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.