Go and have the time of your life.
Plane's gone down.
CHANNON: Who was it you lost? JANE: Our daughter, Flora.
I have nightmares.
(SCREAMS)
Your government knew, they all knew.
The arrest of two Libyan nationals...
Libya? I thought Iran did it.
This is absolutely central to the Crown's prosecution case.
ROBERT: We are proposing the trial be held in a neutral country.
I only want to know who killed my daughter.
JANE: You accept the verdict, whatever it is,
and we get you back.
I promise.
(HELICOPTER HOVERING)
NEWSCASTER: The top stories in Scotland today.
Trial of the century opens...
NEWSCASTER 2: It's being called the trial of the century.
(REPORTING IN OTHER LANGUAGES)
...finally are standing trial...
REPORTER: Behind me is Camp Zeist,
a former military base outside Utrecht,
converted at a cost of £12 million.
REPORTER 2: On a tiny patch of Dutch soil, designated as Scotland.
REPORTER 3: There is no jury.
Instead, four Scottish Law Lords will pass judgment...
REPORTER 4: ...American families are here, along with a smaller group...
This is our daughter, Theo Cohen.
She was only 20 years old when her plane was blown up over Lockerbie.
BERT: It's going to be difficult to prove the case against two Libyans,
but that is not important to me.
I'll just be happy to see them in court.
It's important that we live in a society where the legal system
cannot be manipulated for political ends.
My brother and the others killed cannot demand the justice they are due.
So we must speak for them.
The prosecution must prove beyond all reasonable doubt
that they were responsible for the bombing of Flight 103.
I have every faith that they will do so.
- (REPORTERS SHOUTING) - (HELICOPTER HOVERING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
So good to see you.
MURTAGH: Your attention for a moment, folks.
Brian Murtagh, US Department of Justice.
My colleague Dana is right now handing around copies
of the prosecution witness list.
One thousand witnesses to get through.
Any questions, we're right here.
- Honor to meet you, sir. - Pleasure.
How often will you be coming to the trial?
John and I are here representing the UK Families Group.
We'll be here every day until the verdict is announced.
I admire your dedication.
How long do you think the trial will take?
It's hard to say, ma'am.
Six months... maybe more.
But be in no doubt,
no matter how long it takes, these men are guilty,
and we will get a conviction.
Excuse me.
Ladies and gentlemen, the court will shortly be convening.
The press gallery is to the left, ladies and gentlemen.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- (DOOR OPENS) - (PEOPLE MURMURING)
WOMAN: Sick!
CLERK: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah,
you are both charged with conspiring together
to place onboard Pan Am Flight 103
a suitcase containing an improvised explosive device.
Having tagged the suitcase to travel unaccompanied
from Malta airport to Frankfurt airport, via London Heathrow to New York,
which exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie, Scotland,
resulting in the murder of 259 passengers and crew,
and 11 people on the ground.
My Lord, the accused plead not guilty.
The witness schedule reads as follows. Number one...
TAXI DRIVER: Yeah, well, enjoy your stay. JANE: Thank you.
JIM: All right.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Can I now take you back to the events of the 21st of December, 1988?
ROLAND: I saw a wing, the whole of the wing,
a silhouette against the skies, coming towards us.
I followed it all the way until it disappeared
behind the buildings,
and I saw the explosion of flames rise up.
ELLEN: It was like the world was on fire.
Thick smoke, fire everywhere.
The overpowering smell of engine fuel.
The sound of screaming and...
objects and people falling out of the sky.
FERRIE: We had, first of all, to look for any passengers
that might be in need of medical attention.
There were none.
Bodies were recovered and body parts.
Many.
STUART: If you come out my house,
you go down some steps, and just to the left of it,
four or five feet away from the steps...
there was a young lady lying there.
VALERIE: There were bodies...
everywhere...
Men, women, children.
There was one outside my house...
a baby.
There were more... on the pavement...
on the golf course...
in hedges.
They were unrecognizable.
STUART: The whole town was in shock for a long time.
I know one young man done away with himself.
It affected a lot of people for a long time.
ELLEN: People come from across the world to...
visit the memorial, to remember their parent or...
(TEARFULLY) sister... or a child.
And some of them ask to visit the place
where their loved one... where the body was found.
And so you find yourself taking someone you don't know,
a stranger,
to show them the place.
But in a way, they're not strangers.
It's our duty
to welcome them, to say, "We know what it feels like."
(DISHES CLINKING)
(JIM GRUNTS)
You all right?
Hearing all that today...
What she must have gone through.
And I still don't know where she fell.
Where she was found.
I'm not sure what good it would do.
Why didn't I come to the ice rink with you?
How cowardly was I?
Those poor people in Lockerbie. They never asked for any of this.
Did they do it?
I watched them so closely.
Not a flicker of anything.
Yes, I think they did.
Everything points to them.
Thank you.
Give my love to Catherine and William.
Why don't you do it yourself, Jim? Just pick up the phone.
(CAR DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)
- Look after yourself. - You, too.
(MURRAY SIGHS)
The press center's like a desert. Thought I'd get closer to the action.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
He's looking mighty confident.
HAYES: When a bomb explodes, it generates
intense heat and sends out tiny shards...
...from whichever housing it is lodged in.
That is what we were initially searching for.
Parts of the explosive device lodged in charred and damaged clothing
that would have been near or around the bomb.
After several months examining debris,
I found a blast-damaged electronic fragment
lodged inside the charred remains of a shirt.
My Lords, the fragment is on the evidence table
but for the purposes of clarity,
we will now show an enlarged image of it.
Dr. Hayes, you identified this fragment as being significant.
HAYES: I understood it to be significant. Yes.
But I had left RARDE before it was identified.
I was succeeded by my colleague, Allen Feraday
with whom I published the final forensic report.
This fragment seemed to be the only part of the circuit board from the timer
which detonated the bomb aboard Flight 103.
Were you able to identify what kind of timer it was from?
Not initially. No.
It was a bit of a needle in a haystack.
There are thousands of companies worldwide
which manufacture circuit boards.
But finally, a year later, another forensic colleague
in the United States, Thomas Thurman of the FBI, found a match.
TURNBULL: Can you tell the court how exactly the circuit board was identified?
FERADAY: The fragment materials and tracking pattern
were extensively compared with circuit boards within timers,
which the FBI had recovered a few years previously,
of a type called MST-13,
which was designed and manufactured
by a Swiss company called MEBO, based in Zurich.
And from whom were those timers seized?
Agents of the JSO.
The Libyan Intelligence agency.
TURNBULL: And you were entirely satisfied
they were the exact same model of circuit board?
FERADAY: It was conclusively established that the tracks
present on the fragment are of copper, covered by a layer of pure tin.
Similar in all respects to the sample boards obtained from MEBO.
JIM: It was truly amazing what the police did, Jane,
to find something so critical
among millions and millions of pieces of debris.
JANE: That's amazing.
JIM: It's incredible.
That fragment of circuit board is the first crucial link to Libya.
The prosecution will just have to prove
the fragment came from the same batch of timers sold to Libya.
(DISTORTED) It's all about joining the dots.
The prosecution have to make a connection.
(MUFFLED POP MUSIC PLAYING)
- (WIND HOWLING) - JANE: Jim...
- (RUMBLING) - (STAMMERING) Jim...
JIM: ...and prove them.
Oh, yes, I see.
How are you?
Are the kids okay at uni?
Yeah. No, I'm fine. Everyone's fine. Um...
So how's... What's next?
JIM: Star witness number one,
Edwin Bollier.
He's basically an arms dealer.
The prosecution need to get it on record
that the timers were supplied by his company.
BOLLIER: I am the co-owner of MEBO,
a company which manufactures and sells electronic and electrical components.
Does that include timers such as the MST-13 that we see here?
Yeah, that's correct. Yeah.
Did your company manufacture and sell timers such as these
to the Libyan Intelligence agency?
I am a legitimate businessman.
What I do is perfectly legal.
If you could just stick to answering the question, Mr. Bollier.
Yes, we supplied Libya with 20 of these timers.
Libya are one of our best customers.
Mr. Bollier, do you recognize either of the two men sitting in dock?
I do not know the man on the right, but the man on the left,
I know he was a partner in ABH,
which is a Libyan company based in Zurich.
TURNBULL: I see.
And is it true Mr. Megrahi's company
was based in the same building as your company?
BOLLIER: Yeah. They rented office space from us. We were on the same floor.
Mr. Bollier, did Mr. Megrahi personally order the MST-13 timers from you?
BOLLIER: No. My dealings were with friends of Megrahi.
But Megrahi had a...
had a high position, I'm sure of it.
He was always moving, you know.
Zurich, Tripoli, Malta.
He was well-connected.
TURNBULL: Can we bring up the timer fragment image PT35-B again, please?
Mr. Bollier?
LORD SUTHERLAND: Mr. Bollier.
Could the Crown counsel have your full attention?
What is this?
This is the fragment found at the Lockerbie crash.
No, this is not the same fragment.
Mr. Bollier, it was confirmed by two forensic scientists.
- One from RARDE, one from the FBI. - BOLLIER: No, it looks similar,
but this is not the same fragment.
My company did not sell this, I can assure you.
So, maybe it's a counterfeit?
TURNBULL: How can it be a counterfeit?
It's been in police custody since it was discovered.
May I examine the actual physical fragment?
Hmm?
(WHISPERING)
There.
TURNBULL: Well, Mr. Bollier?
I am right.
This is not the same fragment that I was shown in Scotland.
What's he doing?
He's trying to distance himself.
- Of course he is. - MURRAY: Clearly panicking.
Probably afraid he'll get sued.
All he's bothered about is his company's reputation
and saving his own skin.
...in 1999, as being made by your company.
Bearing in mind
that scientific tests were made,
can you confirm that this fragment of circuit board
was part of a batch of 20 timers bought by the Libyans?
A batch of timers you delivered to Libyan Intelligence personally.
I remind you, you're under oath.
Yes.
TURNBULL: You traveled to Tripoli with them in your possession?
- BOLLIER: Yes. - You took them to the headquarters
- of Libyan Intelligence in Tripoli? - Yes.
And whilst you were there, you witnessed trials involving some of those timers.
Correct, Mr. Bollier?
Yes.
Hmm.
Thank you, Mr. Bollier.
(SIGHS)
MURRAY: Big day tomorrow.
- Star witness number two. - Yep.
Tony Gauci.
Owns a clothes shop.
Mary's House. Sliema, Malta.
The indictment states that the clothes wrapped around the bomb,
which brought down Flight 103, were bought from his shop.
And in the collar of the shirt, the forensics guy, Hayes, found this.
When they interviewed him,
Gauci remembered the Libyan customer he'd sold the clothes to.
The prosecution need Tony Gauci to link one of the suspects to the bomb.
CAMPBELL: Mr. Gauci...
at the beginning of September, 1989,
did Scottish police visit your shop in Sliema, Malta?
Yes. Detective Harry Bell from Scotland came to see me.
And were you asked about a particular sale of clothing you had made
in December, 1988?
Yes, I told them about a customer who had bought clothes from my shop.
And were you able to remember when that particular sale had taken place?
GAUCI: Uh...
It was slightly before Christmas.
It was raining.
I do not remember the exact date. It was so long ago.
CAMPBELL: Of course, I understand.
Now, this man to whom you sold the clothing...
Did you recognize his nationality?
To me, he was a Libyan.
CAMPBELL: Are you familiar from experience in your shop and in Malta with Libyans?
Oh. (CHUCKLES)
Many Libyan men fly to Malta for business and for pleasure.
They are able to do things in Malta that are forbidden in Libya.
CAMPBELL: Mr. Gauci, where do you source these shirts from?
GAUCI: Malta. Only Malta.
I have dealt with Slalom, the manufacturer, for many years.
Now, Mr. Gauci, I want you to take a moment to look around the courtroom
and tell me if you see the man who bought the clothes from you
in December, 1988.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
GAUCI: He is the man... on this side.
CAMPBELL: Which man are you pointing at?
GAUCI: Uh, not that one.
The one on the left.
That is the man who resembles the man who came to my shop.
CAMPBELL: You're certain about this?
This man here on the left is the man you identified for Detective Harry Bell?
GAUCI: Yes, I identified this man from photographs and in identity parades.
And I remember, it did not seem important to him what he was buying.
He said to me, "None of these clothes are for me."
CAMPBELL: Thank you, Mr. Gauci.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Four months in, and you haven't missed a day.
You're as good as your word, Jim.
You don't think it's odd?
The DOJ is not part of the trial, yet they're here every single day.
They have every right.
They dropped the indictment.
There are Libyan officials here, too.
A bit too pally with the prosecution, if you ask me.
Mr. Gauci, I noticed during the Crown's questioning,
Mr. Campbell omitted to mention
exactly how many interviews you conducted
with Detective Harry Bell and the Scottish police.
Can you remember?
No, I cannot.
Eighteen interviews and 19 statements, Mr. Gauci.
Eighteen?
You gave 19 sworn statements.
In truth, Mr. Gauci, you've had considerable difficulty
identifying Mr. Megrahi before, haven't you?
- No, I... - In the statement I have here,
you described the clothes purchaser as, I quote,
"Around 50, and six feet tall."
Of course, Mr. Megrahi is 48.
Which means that in December, 1988, when you say you sold him the clothes,
he was 36 years old.
And here you list the items
you claim the clothes purchaser bought from you.
Trousers, pullover, jacket, babygro...
but no shirt.
No mention of a shirt, Slalom or otherwise.
In fact, no mention of any shirt until statement number 17.
What are we to make of that?
Did the clothes purchaser buy a shirt from you or not?
It was a long time ago to remember.
Of course. Mr. Bell was interviewing you a whole two years
after the tragedy happened.
Anyone would have difficulty remembering anything
after that long, would they not?
Yes, that is it. Exactly.
TAYLOR: Thank you, my Lord.
JIM: The man was nervous.
And clearly muddled.
MURRAY: Yet there he was, billed as a star witness. Christ!
Eighteen interviews, 19 statements.
Did the police just keep going back to him
until they got the story they wanted?
I don't know what the hell the prosecution were doing.
Did they just hope the defense wouldn't bring all that up?
It just smacks of incompetence.
Yeah. Well, I did a bit more digging when I went back to my hotel room.
It was not only Megrahi that Gauci identified to Detective Bell
as the man that he sold the clothes to.
So a year and a half before he identified Megrahi,
Gauci mentioned a Mr. Mohammed Abu Talb,
a convicted Palestinian terrorist and one of the Scottish police's
initial suspects for the bombing.
Now, is there an Iranian connection?
A Syrian connection? A Palestinian connection?
Has there always been?
You need to get a picture of Talb up there, by the way.
Look, I'm just asking the question, Jim,
because suddenly there's a whole lot more of them.
JIM: Megrahi, he's linked to Bollier, and the MEBO timer.
Timers are sold to Libya by MEBO.
Megrahi's probably JSO.
Megrahi was Head of Airline Security for Libyan Arab Airlines.
Fhimah their Station Manager on Malta.
Megrahi traveled to Malta, using a passport under a false name
issued to him by the Libyan government.
And then he lied about ever having been there.
Fhimah wrote in his diary to procure Air Malta tags
for Megrahi on December 15th.
There's still a hell of a lot stacked against them.
(telephone rings)
JIM ON VOICEMAIL: You've reached the Swire household.
We're not home to take your call at the moment.
Please leave a message after the beep and we'll get back to you.
(BEEPS)
JIM: Hello, Jane, it's me.
I suppose you must be out somewhere.
We are four months into the trial now,
and things have...
Well, things could be going better.
- (WIND HOWLING) - (WOMAN SCREAMS)
(ENGINE STARTS)
(DOG BARKING)
Mrs. Walker, I'm Jane...
I know who you are.
Then you'll know why I've come.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
This is Beechgrove.
This is where they found Flora.
I'll let you...
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)
(SOBBING)
JANE: I love you so much.
I love you so much.
I love you. I love you, Flora.
I love you so much.
(CONTINUES SOBBING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(MURRAY SIGHS)
(JIM GRUNTS)
Star witness number three. The super grass.
My Lords, every precaution must be taken to ensure Mr. Giaka's safety.
Therefore, the recording of his voice will be distorted,
so as to avoid recognition
and the operator of the closed circuit television cameras
has been directed not to film at any time
whilst he is giving evidence.
I became a CIA informant,
because I no longer wanted to work for the Libyan Intelligence.
Because of their involvement in terrorism.
I wanted to get out of Libya and live a normal life.
CAMPBELL: Mr. Giaka, in March 1986,
you were an employee of Libyan Arab Airlines at Malta airport,
where you worked under Mr. Megrahi and Mr. Fhimah. Yes?
Yes. Megrahi was the Head of Security for LAA,
and Fhimah was the Station Manager.
CAMPBELL: Now, you told your CIA handler
that you wrote an intelligence report for the JSO,
the Libyan Intelligence service, around that time.
Yes, I did.
CAMPBELL: What was this intelligence report about?
GIAKA: Well, it outlined in detail how a person could place
an unaccompanied bag onboard an airline flight.
That was two to three months after the US attack on Tripoli in 1986.
Many civilians and soldiers were killed, and the JSO were furious.
They declared that Libya would have revenge.
CAMPBELL: And what did your report conclude?
It concluded that, yes, it could be easily done.
CAMPBELL: To whom did you submit this report?
To the Head of Airline Security, Abdelbaset Megrahi.
CAMPBELL: You shared an office with Mr. Fhimah at Malta airport.
Is that correct?
Yes, I did.
CAMPBELL: Could you tell the court what Mr. Fhimah showed you
was hidden inside his desk in March 1986?
Ten kilos of TNT, brought to the airport office by Mr. Megrahi.
And LAA rush tags.
CAMPBELL: Could you explain to the court what rush tags are?
GIAKA: Certainly. Rush tags are used to allow baggages onto planes unaccompanied.
CAMPBELL: I see.
Now, if we could move forward to the evening of December 20th, 1988,
the night before the crash.
GIAKA: I saw Megrahi with Fhimah
in the baggage arrival area at Malta Airport.
CAMPBELL: And where did they take this suitcase? GIAKA: Towards Customs.
CAMPBELL: And was the suitcase opened for inspection?
- No, it was not. - CAMPBELL: So they just walked through?
GIAKA: Yes. CAMPBELL: Thank you, Mr. Giaka.
The JSO are a merciless organization.
- Would you agree? - GIAKA: Oh, yes.
Are you in fear of your life because of them, Mr. Giaka?
Yes, I am.
Little wonder then you wanted to get out of Libya
to live a normal life elsewhere.
In fact, you wanted to live a normal life in America, did you not?
Yes.
You asked the CIA several times for money to help you emigrate.
GIAKA: Yes, I did.
KEEN: What was their answer?
They said no.
KEEN: But you were a valued informant.
Did you demand an explanation why?
Well, let me read to you what your CIA case officer wrote about you.
It might explain their heartless decision.
"Giaka will be advised in no uncertain terms
"on the 4th of September that we will not provide
"any additional financial assistance to him.
"We will only continue his $1,000 per month salary
"through to the end of 1989.
"If Giaka is not able to demonstrate
"sustained and defined access to information of intelligence value
"by January of 1990, the CIA will cease all salary
"and financial support."
It seems the standard of information that you were giving them
just was not good enough.
You had to do better, otherwise you were a waste of money.
I'm so sorry. Is something amusing you, Mr. Giaka?
You seem to be smiling.
Is it forbidden to smile?
KEEN: That is entirely up to you.
But I do notice you keep looking to the back row of the prosecution benches
to the two American gentlemen there.
Why is that?
There's a man sitting there wearing spectacles.
Do you know him?
What the hell is going on?
Brian Murtagh.
KEEN: So whose evidence have we been hearing today?
Yours or your friend's, Brian Murtagh?
Holy shit.
Why is the CIA informant on first name terms
with the Department of Justice?
Who's pulling Giaka's strings here?
- Fucked up. - KEEN: See, I put it to you, Mr. Giaka,
that all this security protection
is a charade to deceive us into thinking that you are genuine.
Those screens around you obscure the truth.
My Lords, Mr. Keen is going too far.
You didn't come forward with this evidence
after Flight 103 came down, did you?
No. You came forward years later,
after your friends at the CIA told you to give them something bigger.
TNT, rush tags,
Fhimah and Megrahi taking a Samsonite suitcase through security.
Every single word you have said is made up.
You are, in the CIA's own words, a shirker and a fantasist
who is just not worth investing in.
You're a fake and a liar.
Thank you, my Lord.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
It was always going to be a risk.
A risk?
This is a court of law.
Giaka was paid for his evidence.
Let's let the judges decide.
He lied under oath. This will be declared a mistrial.
No, it won't.
It damn well should be.
What do you want from this, Jim?
- Justice. - We all want justice.
Everybody wants justice.
How are you gonna get that without a fair trial?
I don't call murdering 270 innocent people fair. Do you?
Doesn't matter how you get a conviction as long as you get one. Is that it?
Those two men may be small cogs in a big machine,
but I am telling you, they were part of this.
Because our governments decided they were?
This trial only happens once.
We got one shot to take down these Libyans.
Do you want to come away from this with nothing?
REPORTER: There's no doubt that the clothes in the suitcase containing the bomb
were bought at this shop called Mary's House, here in Malta.
The question is, who bought them?
Mr. Gauci won't talk to reporters, but his identification of al-Megrahi
is anything but convincing.
REPORTER 2: The prosecution case
has taken a further blow after the eyewitness testimony
of a former intelligence agent,
who was previously employed by Libyan Arab Airlines,
here at Malta airport.
Questions are now being asked as to what he stands to gain by testifying,
with claims being circulated that he could receive up to $4 million.
The amount of the reward put up by the American government
for evidence which leads to a conviction of Megrahi and Fhimah.
JIM ON VOICEMAIL: ...at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep
and we'll get back to you.
(BEEPS)
Hello, it's me.
I'm just calling to see how you all are.
And to let you know how things are here.
(PHONE HANGS UP)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JOHN: First up today, witness for the prosecution.
John Bedford, a baggage handler from Heathrow.
The prosecution believe that Bedford
loaded the unaccompanied suitcase from Malta
containing the bomb.
TURNBULL: Were you on duty on the afternoon of the 21st of December, 1988, Mr. Bedford?
- Yes, sir. - And do you remember
if any luggage arrived that was destined for Flight 103?
BEDFORD: Yes. Yeah, it did. But not till later at the end of my shift.
I remember, because I had my tea break first.
TURNBULL: And how long were you away from the area?
BEDFORD: No more than half an hour.
TURNBULL: And then you returned to resume work?
Yeah. Yeah. And that's when I saw them.
Them?
What do you mean, Mr. Bedford?
There was two new suitcases
lying in the container when I got back from my tea break.
I didn't put them there.
Two other suitcases?
I don't understand.
Did the prosecution not check this out before?
TURNBULL: Did you see who put those two other suitcases into the container?
No. No, I didn't.
TAYLOR: Mr. Bedford, is it conceivable
that persons other than you or your colleagues
could have put those suitcases into that container?
Yeah. I mean, anyone that works at the airport.
TAYLOR: Anyone?
You are saying that anyone who was airside could have done that?
Yeah.
TAYLOR: For the avoidance of doubt,
these cases appeared before the Malta-Frankfurt flight arrived.
Yes, sir.
Can you describe these suitcases to the court?
Yeah.
One was a brown color. The other one, it was darker.
They were hard-shelled suitcases, same type that Samsonite make.
That's the same as the Malta suitcase.
Bedford said his tea break lasted half an hour.
Which means there was no one around that container.
No security guards.
JIM: For all that time.
MURRAY: How did those cases get in there?
Who put them there?
Did Bedford maybe see the actual suitcase?
He can't have done. The Frankfurt flight hadn't arrived yet.
Unless there was no bomb suitcase on that Frankfurt flight.
Well, that would destroy the whole case.
The entire basis of the trial.
After you.
JOHN: Why are the Crown bringing in a German explosives expert?
I thought that was all done with?
So they can discredit the defense's theory.
Palestinian terrorists.
The Crown are running scared. They've got to shut it down.
CAMPBELL: Mr. Gobel...
In October 1988, you examined some explosive devices
that had been seized in a raid
on the Palestinian terrorist organization PFLP-GC.
Is that correct?
Yes, that is correct.
CAMPBELL: And it has been claimed in various corners
that, in fact, one of those devices may have brought down Flight 103.
GOBEL: Yes, this was an early theory with the German police,
but we came to believe that Flight 103
could not have been brought down by a PFLP-GC device.
Can you tell us why?
The PFLP-GC use air pressure sensitive equipment.
A combination of a barometric switch...
In layman's terms, if you could, Mr. Gobel.
Yeah. The PFLP-GC bombs were made up of three components.
A switch, a timer, and a detonator.
The switch's only job is to turn the timer on.
And what triggers this is a fall in air pressure
as a plane gains altitude.
It takes about seven minutes to detect this change.
The PFLP-GC at this time were known to use ice cube timers,
so called because they resembled ice cubes.
Yeah. Once the switch turns them on,
the timer has an approximate run time of 30 minutes,
after which it triggers the detonator,
which then causes the Semtex within the device to explode.
If a PFLP-GC device had been used to destroy Flight 103,
it would have exploded between 35 and 45 minutes into its first flight.
Flight 103 could only have been brought down by this type of device
if it had been primed or put on board at Heathrow.
The plane left Heathrow at 18:25 and it exploded at 19:03.
It did explode 38 minutes into the flight.
It must have been put onto the plane at Heathrow.
One of Bedford's suitcases?
Why is no one challenging this?
It's too much of a coincidence.
Surely it was an ice cube timer.
T-13 would be much more accurate, because...
The plane exploded after...
(INAUDIBLE)
What on earth is going on?
JIM: It must have been an ice cube timer.
What about Bedford's suitcases?
Jim, sit down.
Come on.
LORD SUTHERLAND: Will the court please disregard this unfortunate interruption?
MURRAY: Come back. LORD SUTHERLAND: Please continue.
CAMPBELL: Thank you, my Lord.
You're okay.
(VACUUM WHIRRING)
(VACUUM STOPS)
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
JIM: Thomas Thurman, FBI forensic scientist...
MURRAY: Similar in all respects.
JIM: I clearly remember Murtagh telling us we will get a conviction.
MURRAY: Abu Talb now in prison in Sweden, for a bombing attempt.
JIM: Found in the cover.
MURRAY: Affiliated to the PFLP-GC, who wanted revenge.
JIM: The bomb would've exploded on the first flight.
MURRAY: Malta, Frankfurt, Heathrow.
JIM: I keep coming back to Heathrow.
MURRAY: Two new suitcases.
JIM: Was it put on board the plane at Heathrow?
What happened to meeting me at the airport?
Jane...
- What's wrong? - (CHUCKLES)
Where do I start?
They didn't do it.
They didn't put that bomb on the plane.
Of course they did. What are you talking about?
We've gone through the whole case over and over.
We've torn it apart, put it back together.
Worked it all out.
They've been set up.
They've been framed.
The whole case against them is a fiction. It's a lie.
They're innocent.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)