LOCKERBIE IS in many ways just like any other small Scottish town.

With around 3500 residents, it is large enough to support a busy, if small, high street, but not quite big enough for the town’s teenagers to do anything other than wander the streets in the evening.

Employment opportunities are limited and the local cheese factory is still the area’s biggest employer.

There is not much to make Lockerbie remarkable yet it is known worldwide because of the sudden and horrific tragedy that occurred in the sky above the town on December 21, 1988.

The bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 claimed 270 victims—243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 villagers.

The town is now synonymous with the biggest ever terrorist attack in Scotland, yet many of its people believe that the atrocity also claimed another victim, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi—the man found guilty of planting the bomb that claimed so many lives.

Until it was revealed last week that he would be applying to drop his appeal, Megrahi had always maintained his innocence.

By dropping his second appeal against his 2001 conviction yesterday, Megrahi has technically accepted guilt for the atrocity yet many in the village do not believe he was behind the murder of 270 people nearly 21 years ago.

Instead, most think Megrahi has only stopped trying to clear his name so that he can be eligible for release on compassionate grounds, or sent back to his home country of Libya as part of a prisoner exchange programme.

Margaret Campbell, who has lived just outside Lockerbie for 29 years, watched parts of the town burn in the aftermath of the explosion but does not believe the right man was jailed for the crime.

“When it happened we could see the homes that were on fire but we didn’t know what had happened—we thought it was a light aircraft at first,” she said.

“I’m not sure that it was him who did it anyway—I think they used him to take the blame.”

Mrs Campbell added that allowing Megrahi to return to Libya would show the compassion of the Scottish people.

“My husband Malcolm died of cancer three years ago so I think it is important he can have some time with his family,” she said.

Lockerbie resident Tom Beaty said the furore surrounding Megrahi’s possible release had become a political issue rather than a discussion over what is the morally right thing to do.

“It’s a political issue but I’m not even sure he was responsible,” he said.

“Even if he was involved and they got him, they didn’t get the full gang but, then again, you have to think about the families and how they are feeling.”

Linda Borthwick, also from Lockerbie, was one of the few in the town who said they believed it was important Megrahi stays in prison—and even she had doubts about whether he was entirely responsible for the crime.

She said, “I didn’t live here at the time but I don’t think he should be released.

“Although I do think he was scapegoated to a degree—they were looking for somebody to blame.”

The people of Lockerbie have tried their best to put the events of December 21, 1988, behind them, many are aware that the emotional scars still run deep and are unwilling to put their names to comments they believe may upset those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

One woman, who now lives on one of the streets hit by wreckage from flight Pan-Am 103, urged compassion towards Megrahi.

She said, “I personally don’t think he was responsible and, although he may have been involved, I think it would be humane to send him home.

“Forgiveness is our Christian duty. I live in the disaster area and most people think the same.”

Another man unwilling to give his name agreed.

“I don’t think he was guilty so it doesn’t bother me if he is released on compassionate grounds or involved in a prison transfer.

“I think a lot of folk in Lockerbie don’t think he is guilty or, if he was, he wasn’t the mastermind.”

Lockerbie does not physically bear the scars of the tragedy.

One resident said the decision had been taken not to allow the tragedy to stop life from ever returning to normal—from ever being lived—in Lockerbie again.

“If people ask where parts of the plane landed, or to show them the crash site, most people just turn away,” he said.

The main memorial to the 270 victims of the disaster lies a mile outside of the town in Dryfesdale Cemetery.

It simply lists all of the victims while their families have placed individual memorials in a semi- circle around the memorial garden.