David Cameron: 'Lockerbie bomber should have died in jail'
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi "should have died in jail", David Cameron said today as he sought to calm renewed criticism in the United States of his release amid fresh questions over the role played by BP.
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi "should have died in jail", David Cameron said today. Photo: PA
The Prime Minister, making his first official visit to Washington since taking office, said the decision to free al-Megrahi had been "profoundly misguided" but denied that the beleaguered oil giant had been in any way involved.
Earlier, No 10 said that Mr Cameron had now agreed to meet a group of US senators who are pressing for a new investigation into the case.
Previously officials had said that Mr Cameron was unable to find time for talks with the senators in his "very full schedule" and had instead offered them a meeting with the British ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald.
With the political firestorm over BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico threatening to dominate his visit, the Prime Minister again sought to distance himself from the decision last year of the Scottish Government to allow al-Megrahi to return to Libya.
"I will say to them (the senators) that I agree that the decision to release al-Megrahi was wrong. I said it was wrong at the time," he told National Public Radio in Washington.
"It was the Scottish Government that took that decision. They took it after proper process and what they saw as the right, compassionate reasons. I just happen to think it was profoundly misguided.
"He was convicted of the biggest mass murder and in my view he should have died in jail. I said that very, very clearly at the time; that is my view today.
"Of course BP has got to do everything necessary to cap the oil well, to clean up the spill, to pay compensation. I have met with BP and I know they want to do that and will do that.
"But let's be clear about who released al-Megrahi... it was a Government decision in the UK. It was the wrong decision. It was not the decision of BP - it was the decision of Scottish ministers."
With the political firestorm over BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico threatening to dominate his visit, the Prime Minister again sought to distance himself from the decision last year of the Scottish Government to allow al-Megrahi to return to Libya.
"I will say to them (the senators) that I agree that the decision to release al-Megrahi was wrong. I said it was wrong at the time," he told National Public Radio in Washington.
"It was the Scottish Government that took that decision. They took it after proper process and what they saw as the right, compassionate reasons. I just happen to think it was profoundly misguided.
"He was convicted of the biggest mass murder and in my view he should have died in jail. I said that very, very clearly at the time; that is my view today.
"Of course BP has got to do everything necessary to cap the oil well, to clean up the spill, to pay compensation. I have met with BP and I know they want to do that and will do that.
"But let's be clear about who released al-Megrahi... it was a Government decision in the UK. It was the wrong decision. It was not the decision of BP - it was the decision of Scottish ministers."
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