Lockerbie: Remembering the victims of Flight 103

BBC News

2 days ago

Almost 40 years on, it seems surprising there are still new stories to tell about the Lockerbie disaster.The destruction of Pan Am 103 in the skies above the small Dumfries and Galloway town on 21 December 1988 is one of the most chronicled events in recent British history.A bomb exploded in the plane's cargo hold, causing the Boeing 747 to break up at 31,000ft as it flew from Heathrow to New York.All 259 passengers and crew on board were killed, along with 11 people in Lockerbie who died when the plane fell on their homes. It remains the biggest terror attack to have taken place on British soil.Coverage tends to focus on anniversaries, but the past six months have brought two big-budget television dramas and later this year a play about the town's response to the disaster will debut at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre.Now, a BBC Scotland documentary aims to tell some of the less well-known stories about those who died on the flight, and about those they left behind.
Among the victims on the plane was Tim Burman, a 24-year-old banker who was flying to New York to spend Christmas with his girlfriend, Rose Grant.Tim was the youngest of four and the only boy. His three sisters - Rachel, Tanya and Fiona - remember him as an "arty, sporty" brother who was keen on the environment and loved running in the Scottish hills.Tanya says: "He genuinely was easy-going and fun, really good fun".Rose, who Tim met while he was on a gap year in Australia, says: "I enjoyed his sense of humour, his style, sense of adventure, ability to get on with everyone. They all mourn his lost potential. His sister Tanya says: "He's both the brother we had, but also a victim of Pan Am 103."Rose believes Tim and his death created a huge bond between them all."Tim is everywhere in the conversation and the mannerisms of Rachel, Tanya and Fiona," she says. "Our connection is held together by him still."
Olive Gordon was 25 and a hairdresser from Birmingham. She had bought a last-minute ticket on Pan Am 103 and was planning on enjoying some shopping in New York in the run up to Christmas."She was just yapping. She said 'I'm going to America tomorrow. Going to buy stuff'. She loved shopping," her sister Donna says.Donna describes Olive as "very bubbly, very full on. You just would not forget her if you knew her".Olive was one of nine siblings.
"I have always asked 'why her? why my sister?'" her brother Colyn says. "And it's something that you sort of battle with. And I'm still battling with it, a little bit. Well, not a little bit, a lot."Her family believe she would have been in business now, something involving hair and beauty."She would probably be an influencer right now," Donna says.
William MacAllister, known as Billy, was a 26-year-old professional golfer from Mull. He was heading to the USA for a romantic break with his girlfriend Terri.Her friends say Terri was hoping Billy was about to propose.Fellow golf pro Stewart Smith worked with Billy at a course in London and remembers his friend as a natural comic with a zest for life."He was a very funny guy. Great sense of humour, great sense of fun," he says."He had moved to Richmond Park, so I went across and worked with Billy. Imagine living in London in the mid-80s when you're mid-20s, both of you."We had some great times."Back in Mull, family friends have put a memorial bench on the course at Tobermory, where they say Billy played every day after school and every weekend from the age of 12. They remember him as "some guy".Family friend Olive Brown says: "Every December I do have a wee sad moment, thinking he's not here. All that potential, enthusiasm and ability got caught short."
Colyn and other members of Olive Gordon's family visited Lockerbie in the days after the disaster. It was a shocking scene."I remember the crater, this huge hole, and these little bits all over the place. It just had this smell. My God, my sister was found here. Somewhere here," he says. In the weeks that followed, members of the local community came together to wash, press and package up the belongings of those who had died on the plane. The Lockerbie laundry has become a symbol of the kindness shown by the people of the town. They treated the dead and their families with love and care while coping with their own immeasurable trauma.Colyn says: "Just thinking about it now makes me emotional. Because these people, they don't know you, they've never met you. But the way they treated you is as if they were family."The people of Lockerbie showed how humanity works. How to display compassion, to display love. I'll never forget them."I don't know if it's quite macabre to say this but I've always said I am glad that's the place that my sister's life was ended. Because of the type of people that live in this place."
The events of the night of 21 December 1988 have resonated across the decades.In 2001, a Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted of the bombing and 270 counts of murder, following a trial in front of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty.Suffering from terminal prostate cancer, Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds in 2009. He was returned to Libya and spent the next three years living in a villa in Tripoli before finally succumbing to his illness in 2012. Ten years later, Libyan Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, was taken into American custody after being removed from his home in Tripoli.He is awaiting trial in the USA, accused of building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103.
Today, the town of Lockerbie remembers the disaster in its own, quiet, way.Pupils from the secondary school can apply for a scholarship to spend a year at Syracuse University, in memory of 35 students from there who died in the bombing.There is a memorial garden on the edge of the town, as well as plaques in Sherwood Crescent and Park Place, the two sites where most of the plane came down.Nearby Tundergarth Church, which overlooks the field where the nose cone was found, is also a site of remembrance.But more than anything, the Lockerbie bombing victims are remembered by those they left behind.Every year in Tobermory, members at the golf club play for the cup which carries Billy MacAllister's name.And his friend Stewart has a special reason to remember him."He had a big impact on my life really because, had Billy not enticed me to go and work over at Richmond, I would probably have not got to know my then girlfriend, who became my wife. My life would have been a very different one from what it became," he says."What a shame he didn't get a chance to go on and fulfil his potential."For Rose, Tim's early death has shaped the course of the past four decades for all those who loved him."I think the gift that Tim's given us is to live our lives. I always feel that I owe that to him. Get out and do it."Olive's death has had the same effect on Colyn and their siblings."Olive would have wanted us to live a good life, a full life. Like how she lived. Having a good time."Lockerbie: Our Story will be available on the BBC iPlayer from 22:00 on Monday 2 June and will be shown on BBC Two at 21:00 and BBC Scotland at 22:00 on Tuesday 3 June.