Jim Swire

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Dr Jim Swire, Lockerbie victim Flora's father

James 'Jim' Swire (born 1936) is an English doctor who is best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which his daughter Flora was killed.

Early life and career

Jim Swire was born in Windsor, Berkshire, and educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge. From Cambridge he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, specialising in munitions and explosives. Having completed his short-service commission, he then decided to change direction and returned to university, this time to Birmingham University, to study medicine.

He became a family doctor, and moved to Blackwell, a village in the district of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire where he practised medicine as a GP. He married his Cambridge sweet-heart, Jane, in 1961. They had two daughters, Flora and Cathy, and a son, William.

Lockerbie bombing

On 20 December 1988, Dr Swire's 23-year-old daughter Flora, who wanted to fly to the United States to spend Christmas with her American boyfriend, had little difficulty in booking a seat on the next day's transatlantic Pan Am Flight 103. All 259 passengers and crew died when Pan Am Flight 103 crashed at the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. Eleven residents of Lockerbie were killed by plummeting wreckage which brought the total number of fatalities to 270.

UK Families Flight 103

The 270 Lockerbie Bombing victims came from 21 countries.

In February 1989, the U.S. group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 was formed to represent the interests of the families of the 189 American victims. The same year, the British relatives founded their own campaigning group, UK Families Flight 103 (UKFF103), to press for a public inquiry into the crash, and to seek truth and justice for all of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103. In the British media, in radio and TV interviews, and in letters to newspapers, the spokesman for UKFF103 would, more often than not, be Dr Swire, though the position of spokesman was never defined in the organisation.

On 18 May 1990, Swire took a fake bomb on board a British Airways from London Heathrow to New York JFK and then on a flight from New York JFK to Boston to show that airline security had not improved; his fake bomb consisted of a radio cassette player and the confectionery marzipan, which was used as a substitute for Semtex. Some American family members asked Swire to keep the news of the stunt quiet for a while; it became public six weeks after Swire did it. Susan and Daniel Cohen, parents of Pan Am Flight 103 victim Theodora Cohen approved of the plan, while some other family members of American victims did not.

Susan Cohen said that in the beginning she admired Dr Swire "a great deal." The Cohens said that both they and Swire felt suspicious about the development in the mainstream account that Libya was solely responsible for the bombing; unlike the Cohens, Swire believed that Libya had no responsibility at all. Daniel Cohen said that he and his wife did not approve of Swire travelling to Tripoli, Libya and placing a photograph of Flora next to the photograph of Hanna, Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi's adopted daughter, who died in the 1986 US bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi. The Cohens said that they thought that Swire "was being foolish and worse" since the Cohens believed that his actions were forming Libyan propaganda and that Gaddafi was using Swire to benefit himself. As Swire made more trips to Libya, Susan Cohen said that he began to remind her of Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai since the character was, in Susan Cohen's words, "a brave and decent man whose obsession led him to unwittingly serve the enemy cause."

The Cohens said in their book that Dr Swire had praised a book project, which became Trail of the Octopus. When the Cohens discovered that Lester Coleman was the author, they told Swire to have a suspicion about the project; they said that Swire wanted to "keep an open mind" about the book project.

Initial inquiries

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) of Britain's Department of Transport immediately started an investigation into the Lockerbie bombing. The AAIB quickly found evidence at the scene of the crash indicating that it was not an accident but that the aircraft had been brought down by an explosion. From parts of the aircraft fuselage retrieved from the Lockerbie vicinity, the AAIB began a painstaking reconstruction of the jumbo jet in an aircraft hangar at Longtown, Cumbria.

On 29 September 1989 U.S. President George H. W. Bush set up the Presidential Commission into Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) to look into the security measures needed in the light of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. The PCAST report was presented to the President on 5 May 1990 and its recommendations were widely reported.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the Lockerbie bombing was conducted in Scotland by Sheriff Principal John Mowatt QC in October 1990. Disappointingly for Dr Swire and for UKFF103, the FAI was – like an inquest – concerned with simply establishing the facts of the Lockerbie bombing, rather than discovering why it happened and who did it.

UKFF103 renewed its demand for a public inquiry into all of the unresolved aspects of the bombing.

Lockerbie investigation

Ultimate responsibility for the criminal investigation rested with the Scottish Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who combined the political role of Conservative cabinet minister with his judicial role as Scotland's chief prosecutor. Three years after the crash, the investigation into the bombing of PA 103 was abruptly and unexpectedly concluded, with Lord Fraser and his American counterpart announcing in November 1991 the indictment of two Libyans for the crime. Libya was instructed to surrender Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah for trial in either Britain or the United States.

Dr Swire was not entirely convinced by this indictment, but considered the Lockerbie relatives' search for truth and justice could be advanced if there were to be a trial, and especially if the trial were to be held in Scotland.

Facilitating the trial

There was no extradition treaty between any of the countries involved: Britain, the US and Libya, and Libyan law prevented the extradition of its citizens in any case. Under the 1971 Montreal Convention which deals with prosecutions relating to aircrashes, Libya offered to detain the two accused and prosecute them. The offer was turned down by the US and Britain and there was an impasse for the next three years in bringing the accused to trial.

Early in 1994, Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University proposed a solution whereby the two Libyans would be prosecuted under Scots law but in a neutral country. When, later in 1994, newly elected president Nelson Mandela offered South Africa as the neutral venue, the proposal was rejected out of hand by the then British prime minister, John Major.

It took another three years until the election of a Labour government in Britain in 1997 for any headway to be made. The new foreign secretary, Robin Cook, while initially taking the line that a neutral country was not possible under Scots law, met UKFF103 and with much support from president Nelson Mandela went along with the proposed solution. Dr Swire was said to have been baffled as to how Cook and prime minister, Tony Blair, managed to persuade the Americans to agree.

In the latter part of 1997, Dr Swire and Professor Black decided to lobby internationally for support of Black's proposal and visited Egypt and Libya. Dr Swire went to America, the United Nations, Germany, back to Libya and then visited key cities throughout the United Kingdom. Eventually the Dutch government offered a choice of sites, and Camp Zeist, Netherlands was chosen to become Scottish territory for the duration of criminal proceedings.

The accused were handed over to Scottish police at Camp Zeist in May 1999, and the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on 5 May 2000. Dr Swire was present for the whole trial and when the verdicts were announced on 31 January 2001, acquitting Fhimah and convicting Megrahi, Swire fainted and had to be carried from the courtroom.

Meeting Megrahi

Dr Swire met Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the first time on Wednesday 16 November 2005 and spent an hour with him in the prison governor's office. The purpose of the meeting, according to Dr Swire, was to ask Megrahi whether he would still press for the SCCRC to continue its review of his case if rumours of Megrahi's likely repatriation to Libya to serve the remainder of his sentence proved to be correct. Dr Swire said:

"Megrahi was happy for me to make it known that he is determined to pursue a review of the case, no matter what might evolve concerning his future detention. It is very important to the members of UKFF103 campaign group that there be a full review of the entire Lockerbie scenario through an appropriately powered and independent inquiry, but absence of a further review of the court case would also damage our search for truth and justice."

Dr Swire added that even if Megrahi did not continue with his appeal bid, UKFF103 would press the SCCRC to review the case, as interested parties.

Second appeal

On 28 June 2007 the SCCRC announced the completion of its four-year review. It decided that Megrahi's conviction could have been a miscarriage of justice and granted him leave for a second appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh. Swire was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme a few hours before the SCCRC announced its decision. Megrahi's second appeal was expected to be heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2009.

In October 2007 Swire offered £500,000 to lawyers trying to prove the innocence of al-Megrahi.

In December 2008, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie]], the former Lord Advocate, said that Swire's insistence that al-Megrahi was innocent was comparable to the "Stockholm syndrome", where captives grow to admire and defend their captors. Many American families of victims criticised Swire for his support of Libya. Swire said that he felt upset by Fraser's comments. Fraser defended his position, insisting on his choice of words.

In the same month, Dr Swire became a founder member of the Justice for Megrahi Campaign which sought interim release from jail for Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was terminally ill, so that he could return to his family in Libya pending his second appeal against conviction.

Megrahi release

On 20 August 2009, owing to the cancer, Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill. Although application had also been made to transfer Megrahi back to Libya through a Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK government and Libya, such a transfer could not be made if the conviction of a prisoner was still subject to appeal. To facilitate his repatriation, Megrahi was encouraged to abandon his appeal.

Dr Swire expressed his approval of the release but disappointment that the appeal had been abandoned. He stated: "It's a blow to those of us who seek the truth but it is not an ending. I think it is a splitting of the ways."

In January 2012, Swire travelled to Tripoli to meet and say goodbye to Megrahi who, Swire had become "entirely satisfied", was not to blame for the Lockerbie bombing.

Francis Boyle's book

In his April 2013 email to Professor Francis Boyle, Dr Swire thanked Prof Boyle for sending him a signed copy of the book "Destroying Libya and World Order: The Three-Decade US Campaign to Reverse the Qaddafi Revolution", and wrote:

"Destroying Libya and World Order: The Three-Decade US Campaign to Reverse the Qaddafi Revolution"

"Chapter four closely follows what we have laboriously decoded from amongst the rubbish that we are peddled by the politicians and through the media. I would have greatly valued the opportunity of discussions with you many years ago. (...)

"Now your book reinforces the knowledge that we do know what didn't happen, even if we must accept that we do not have much proof of what really did.

"How can we hold up our heads as if we were citizens of truth and honesty espousing communities?

"It might interest you to know that on one of my trips (in my naivety) to try to persuade Gaddafi to allow his citizens to be tried in what I then believed would be a fair Scottish court, I had a meeting with their Chief Justice. He explained that Libya wished to act in conformity with the Montreal Convention [1971] but that they could not, because, would you believe, the West would not provide the evidence which they claimed to have against the two accused. I had already discussed Montreal with Rodney Wallis of ICAO, and could only sympathise with the Chief Justice's position. I accepted a carefully sealed packet from him, which he told me contained details of the Libyan position so that there should be no ambiguity about it in the British Foreign Office.

"With some difficulty I persuaded the pilot on the flight back to the UK to radio ahead that I had a sealed package which I wanted to pass to a Foreign Office courier unopened upon landing at Heathrow. No one turned up. I delivered it myself in Whitehall immediately and of course nothing was ever heard about that package again.

"Interesting how deceit is actually enacted amongst the humbler citizens who simply seek the truth, poor suckers that we are.

"Anyway thank you again for sending the book, it has an honoured place in my Lockerbie library. I am satisfied that you were spot on in your positions over this disgraceful episode."

Professor Boyle replied to Dr Swire:

"The purpose of my writing that book was to set the record straight from my perspective after the 2011 US/NATO war against Libya. I owed it to Colonel Gaddafi, Libya, the Libyans, the victims of the Lockerbie Bombing, and their next-of-kin. If and when Scotland obtains independence in the forthcoming referendum, maybe we can get to the bottom of what really happened here:

1. who did it; and,
2. the cover-up."

See also

• Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
• The Maltese Double Cross

External links

• Website of Dr Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph
• Dr Jim Swire: My hopes
• Aims & Objectives of Justice for Megrahi campaign
• Taking a Stand. BBC Radio 4. Broadcast 2 February 2010.

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