23 years ago today a Boeing 747 airliner exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.

Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, an agent of the Libyan security service, was convicted and sentenced to life for the bombing. However, in a move that outraged the victims’ families Megrahi, suffering from ‘terminal’ cancer, was released from Greenock Prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds. The Government of the day insisted that his release was unconnected with lucrative commercial contracts struck with the Gaddafi regime under Tony Blair’s premiership.

Not everyone was convinced — this from The Mail a year ago, following revelations by Wikileaks:

Now we learn that Colonel Gaddafi offered a ‘parade of treats’ to the Scottish administration in return for Megrahi’s release, while issuing ‘thuggish’ threats of ‘harsh and immediate’ action against UK interests if he remained in jail.

Indeed, our man in Tripoli was so terrified of what might have happened if Megrahi had died in jail that he told a U.S. diplomat: ‘They could have cut us off at the knees.’

Needless to say, Megrahi was welcomed like a hero on his return to Tripoli and is still alive and kicking today.

It is generally believed that the bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 over Lockerbie was an act of state sponsored terrorism, and that Megrahi was just one among many. Now, finally, there is hope that those other conspirators could be brought to justice.

Scottish Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, who today attends a memorial service for American victims at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, has been working with the FBI to reopen investigations into the atrocity. Mr Mulholland said: “I think I would be failing in my duty if I didn’t properly seek to take advantage of the opportunity that has opened up with the fall of Gaddafi.”

Scottish detectives will travel to Libya early next year to interview new witnesses and hopefully bring about a second trial. Their list of suspects includes includes some of the highest-ranking figures of the regime, including Gaddafi’s brother-in-law Abdullah Senussi, former chief of Libyan intelligence.