Jane Lockerbie: The Search for Truth Sky

Lockerbie: A Search For Truth Series 1 Episode 4 Recap

As the fourth episode of Lockerbie: A Search for Truth begins, the date is January 31, 2001. It’s been nine months since the trial started. Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi (Ardalan Esmaili) and Lamin Fhimah (Mudar Abbara) prepare for the verdict. In a flashback, Jim Swire (Colin Firth) tells Jane Swire (Catherine McCormack) about the timer. He says it makes no sense to put the bomb on two flights before it gets onto the target plane. Tony Gauci mentioned Abu Talb well before he mentioned al-Megrahi. Jim is adamant that nothing has been proven in the trial. He says one of the latest prosecution witnesses is a German explosives expert who was meant to destroy the Palestinian theory. Jim believes he did the opposite and showed that the PFLP-GC could’ve been involved. Back in court, Lamin Fhimah is found not guilty. Al-Megrahi is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

jim lockerbie search for truth episode 3

Jim collapses. Eight months after the verdict on September 11, 2001, Murray Guthrie (Sam Troughton) learns about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. A guard tells al-Megrahi that he’ll have more trouble with his appeal now. His appeal is refused by a panel of five judges at Camp Zeist. Al-Megrahi is flown to Scotland so he can spend his 20-year life term at Barlinnie Prison. He arrives at the prison in March 2002. Cathy Swire (Jemma Carlton) and William Swire (Harry Redding) hang out with their parents. Cathy’s daughter is put into a crib in Flora’s room because Jane wants to use the room again. Jim admits he believes al-Megrahi is innocent. He claims there was a lot of new evidence in his appeal. Jane has to make him shut up. Murray calls Jim to say Megrahi has been granted an application for a second appeal. He’s also got a new lawyer, Roddy McGill, who was on Fhima’s defense team. Murray also got in touch with the detective on the original investigation.

After the call, Murray tries to get Brian Dunbar (Ben Adams) to talk to him about the case. He remembers Brian said something about possible CIA and FBI interference. Brian will only tell Murray that he’s looking in the wrong place. At work, Murray is asked about his source. He says he’ll give it a couple more days and try again. Murray is told to drop it since they have bigger things going on. Jane catches Jim researching late at night. Next, Jim visits Roderick McGill (Mark Bonnar). Roderick introduces him to Shona Randall (Hiftu Quasem) and John Ashton (Joe Bannister). Shona believes Megrahi’s chances are pretty good, but it’s up to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Jim believes it’s a total miscarriage of justice. He says he wants to visit Megrahi. At the prison, a guard asks Jim how he can be in the same room as Megrahi. Jim asks Megrahi if he killed his daughter. Megrahi says he did not. Jim tells him he believes the case is a sham.

He will do everything he can to help get his conviction overturned. Jim says Megrahi is there partly because of his actions and not a day goes by without him regretting him. Megrahi admits Libya is paying for his legal fees. He questions why he would need Jim to help him. Jim has to do something or they may never find out who killed his daughter. He goes on to say the truth must be known. Megrahi asks Jim to call him Baset. Jim catches up with Murray and tells him about the visit. He suggests he could help Murray get an interview with Baset. Murray says Baset isn’t news anymore. The last time he wrote about Lockerbie it was buried on page eight. The world and his editor want 9/11 and the war on terror. Jim says he can murder him and Baset. Murray warns him that the press would murder him. He admits most people think Baset did it and most people just want to forget. Jim returns home and tells Jane about the visit. Jane admits she isn’t sure it matters what she thinks anymore.

Jane Lockerbie: The Search for Truth Sky

Jim hasn’t asked one of them directly what they think. The children barely come there anymore because there are too many bad memories. Jane thinks they should move because she wants to be closer to her children and grandchildren. Robert Baer (Michael Landes) speaks during his book tour. Jim and John Ashton approach him to speak to him. In private, Robert says Lockerbie was Iran’s revenge for the Americans shooting down their Airbus. He believes Iran paid the Syrian-based PFLP-GC to carry out the bombing. Robert believes a Jordanian named Marwan Khreesat made the bomb. They were raided by German police during the Autumn Leaves operation. They found four of the bombs and lost track of the fifth. The Iranians supposedly met with the PFLP-GC people in Beirut. They had telephone intercepts of them discussing it. Two days after Lockerbie, Iran transferred $11 million into a PFLP-GC bank account.

Robert says they had proof and handed over their intel to the US administration, but they shelved the information. They were at war with Saddam Hussein so they needed Iran and Syria on their side. Gaddafi was at the top of their hit list and they needed to throw a bone to the victims’ grieving families. Robert is asked if he’ll speak to the Review Commission. He says he will, but it won’t make a difference because Libya is right where they want them. In September 2003, McGill and the team get ready to submit the paperwork to the Commission. In June 2007, Megrahi is still in prison. The Review Commission has finally delivered its statement of reasons. McGill says they rejected all of the submissions apart from six. Jim and the others begin working with Megrahi to pick holes in the evidence. Baset begins experiencing health issues. The Commission found that Gauci gave 23 statements and was visited by Scottish Police more than 50 times.

Only 19 of the statements were given to the defense team. Gauci was also interested in a reward. Jim tells Megrahi there’s nothing about Robert Baer or the timer fragment. Baset reminds him they have to take one step at a time. After leaving the Dumfries force, Brian decides to speak to Murray who mentions undisclosed secret documents held at his police station. Murray tells him he’ll drive and Brian can talk. Later, he says one of the documents is a letter from the King of Jordan to Prime Minister John Major suggesting that the Libyans were innocent of the crime. It also points the finger at the PFLP-GC and Marwan Khreesat. He tells his boss that the documents were known to the Crown during the trial. Murray says they want to keep whatever it is buried. He’s told to find out what they’re not telling them and write it.

Flora Lockerbie: The Search for Truth Sky TV

Murray calls Jim to tell him he might have a front-page story. In February 2008, Murray’s boss and their lawyer, Phil Marsden, tell him they cannot publish the story. Phil says they ran the story past the FCO for comment and they threatened legal action. The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has issued a public interest immunity certificate for reasons of national security. Megrahi’s defense team may have been denied access to the documents because of the PII. When Murray tells Jim, he’s told to take the story somewhere else. Jim asks for it because he’ll publish it. Murray asks if he’s ever thought that this might be a lost cause and that they will never allow them to know the truth. Jim never thought he’d hear Murray say that. At the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Megrahi’s family learns he has prostate cancer. Jim speaks to Aisha (Selwa Jghalef) and Ghada (Tara Abboud) about Megrahi. Then, he visits Baset. Jim admits it’s severe although he’s had patients who have beaten cancer.

Baset doesn’t want to die in there. He reveals that the UK and Libya are negotiating a prisoner transfer agreement. Jim asks about his appeal. Baset asks Jim if he thinks he’d give it up. He insists he will not go down in history as the Lockerbie bomber. Baset claims his name will be cleared and Jim will go on and find out who really did this. Later, Roderick visits Baset to say there’s a problem. He says a prison cannot have an appeal ongoing to be considered for a prisoner transfer under Scottish law. Alternatively, he can be released on compassionate grounds. You may be able to return home and keep his appeal. Kenny MacAskill speaks about the beliefs and values in Scotland. He goes on to say justice has to be tempered by mercy. Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi strike a deal on the potential release of Megrahi. On the 20th anniversary of the bombing on December 21, 2008, Jane asks Jim to take off his Justice for Megrahi pin.

Some of the families are not happy that Jim is there. Jane speaks to Ellen Walker (Claire Brown). Ellen isn’t eager to speak to Jim. Bert Ammerman (Simon Delaney) complains about Megrahi possibly being released. Jane pulls Jim away before he can say anything. Jane asks him to see things from their perspective. She believes this is how Jim is coping. Megrahi learns he has visitors. Jane tells Jim they need him now before it’s too late. Baset is pressed to drop his appeal so he can leave.

 

Lockerbie: A Search For Truth Review

The fourth episode of Lockerbie was okay. It still feels like the series is a missed opportunity. The central story remains very interesting, but the show doesn’t do a great job of telling that story or exploring the personal impact of what happened. Nothing is really covered effectively while the evidence is unloaded in bunches that make everything overwhelming.

The show’s agenda is Jim Swire’s agenda, but the series isn’t truly convincing in this category. It doesn’t do enough to make viewers genuinely believe one way or another. It’s just slowly going through the motions until the conclusion when we have more questions than answers. In reality, the series doesn’t have any firm beliefs or anything new to add to the story.

The series is watchable if viewers don’t expect this to have any satisfactory level of emotional impact. The primary benefit here is that the story itself is interesting enough to warrant additional research, but that can be done after any episode. This episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Lockerbie: A Search for Truth can be found here.

Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.

Share with your buddies!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *