Connect with us

Published

on

Today marks 35 years since the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 – and a series of events will take place in memory of those who died.

When the Boeing 747 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it killed all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 people on the ground.

The bombing – which took place on 21 December 1988 as the plane made its way from London to New York – remains the UK’s worst terrorist attack.

A policeman stands guard over houses damaged in the Pan Am Boeing 747 Lockerbie crash, which killed all 258 on board and 17 people on the ground.
Image:
A policeman standing guard over houses damaged in the bombing

The Dumfries and Galloway town will mark the 35th anniversary of the tragedy on Thursday with a series of events.

Lockerbie Academy will host its annual remembrance assembly.

A small number of pupils will then take part in a rose-laying ceremony at Dryfesdale Cemetery at 11.30am. They will be accompanied by a remembrance scholar from Syracuse University who will be representing the 35 students from Syracuse who were killed in the disaster.

Wreaths and floral tributes left during the commemoration service in the Memorial Garden at Dryfesdale Cemetery in Lockerbie to mark the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing.
Image:
Wreaths and floral tributes at Dryfesdale Cemetery on the tragedy’s 30th anniversary in 2018


A number of public events have also been organised and all those wishing to take part are warmly invited to attend.

More on Lockerbie

10am: Communal wreath-laying and remembrance service at Tundergarth Church.
•​​​​​​​ 11.45am: Communal wreath-laying at Dryfesdale Cemetery.
•​​​​​​​ 12.15pm: Communal wreath-laying at Sherwood Crescent.
•​​​​​​​ 12.45pm: Communal wreath-laying at Rosebank Crescent.
7pm: Mass at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church. A service will also take place at Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University and can be watched online.

Lockerbie Town Hall will be open between 10am and 8pm, where light refreshments will be available. Soup will also be served between 1pm and 2.30pm.

The Remembrance Room at Tundergarth Church and Dryfesdale Lodge Visitor Centre will remain open throughout the day, and both offer a wealth of information surrounding the disaster.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has marked the anniversary by paying tribute to all those who lost their life in the disaster.

He added: “My thoughts are also with the emergency workers who responded in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity.

“Their rapid response along with the people of Lockerbie while facing extraordinary circumstances demonstrated extreme kindness and humanity in the face of such horrific events.

“While those lost on that night can never be replaced, and the events have had a lasting impact on the town, I know links were forged following the disaster between Lockerbie and other communities that continue to this day, including the Syracuse University scholarship programme with Lockerbie Academy.

“The strength and compassion that both the victims’ families and the community of Lockerbie have shown has created a legacy of friendship and ensured that the memory of those who died lives on.”

The Stone of Remembrance at the Memorial Garden, Dryfesdale Cemetery, in Lockerbie, as people prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing.
Image:
The Stone of Remembrance within the Memorial Garden at Dryfesdale Cemetery

Read more:
Father’s search for truth

Key dates in the three decades since the Lockerbie bombing:

21 December 1988: Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 270 people – 259 on board and 11 on the ground.

Undated file handout photo issued by the Crown Office of the late Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Nelson Mandela's attempts to act as an intermediary over the Lockerbie bombing led to friction with Blair's Labour government, according to newly-released official documents. Files released to the National Archives at Kew, west London, showed officials in No 10 feared the former South African president's efforts to act as a go between with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi were "unli
Image:
Abdelbaset al Megrahi

January 2001: Following a trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al Megrahi is found guilty of mass murder and jailed for life. Co-accused Lamin Khalifah Fhimah is found not guilty.

A newsagent displays the outcome of the Lockerbie trial in Lockerbie. Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing, the biggest single act of mass murder in British history. *... But co-defendant Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was found not guilty of the bombing. Three Scottish judges delivered unanimous verdicts on the two men at the specially-constructed Scottish court at Camp Zeist in Holland. The two Libyans were accused of causing the Lockerbie disaster and the
Image:
A newsagent displaying the outcome of the Lockerbie trial

August 2003: Libya accepts blame for the bombing and agrees to compensate victims’ families.

March 2004: Then prime minister Tony Blair offers Colonel Muammar Gaddafi “the hand of friendship” following talks with the Libyan leader in a tent outside Tripoli. The UK and Libya go on to sign a memorandum of understanding, with a commitment to negotiate a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA).

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ahead of their talks in Tripoli. Mr Blair's visit follows Libya's agreement in December to dismantle its WMD programme and its acceptance of responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of Wpc Yvonne Fletcher.
Image:
Tony Blair and Muammar Gaddafi in 2004

May 2007: Oil giant BP and the Libyan government sign an exploration and production sharing agreement.

June 2007: The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) recommends Megrahi is granted a second appeal against his conviction after the first, in 2002, was refused.

December 2007: It is revealed the UK government has decided not to exclude Megrahi from the PTA.

September 2008: Megrahi is diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

Aisha Al Megrahi, wife of the Lockerbie bomber Adbeldbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi with his son Khalid during a candle-lit vigil to highlight alleged miscarriages of justice outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Image:
Megrahi’s wife and son during a candle-lit vigil outside Holyrood in 2008

May 2009: The Libyan government submits an application to the Scottish government for Megrahi’s transfer under the PTA, followed by an application for release on compassionate grounds.

August 2009: Then Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill announces Megrahi is to be freed from Greenock Prison and returned to his home country on compassionate grounds. The UK and the US condemn the “hero’s welcome” given to Megrahi as he arrives in Tripoli to cheering crowds.

A convoy carrying Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi arrives at Glasgow Airport, for a plane bound for Tripoli, after he was released on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
Image:
Megrahi arriving at Glasgow Airport in 2009 after being released from Greenock Prison on compassionate grounds

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi climbs the steps of a plane at Glasgow Airport, bound for Tripoli, after he was released on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
Image:
Megrahi leaving Glasgow for Tripoli

September 2009: Then UK justice secretary Jack Straw acknowledges the prospect of trade and oil deals with Libya was “a very big part” of his decision to include Megrahi in the PTA.

July 2011: Megrahi appears in a televised pro-government rally in Libya and says his conviction was the result of a “conspiracy”.

October 2011: Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya following an uprising, is killed by rebels.

May 2012: Megrahi dies at home in Tripoli aged 60.

December 2013: The UK, US and Libyan governments vow to cooperate to reveal “the full facts” of the bombing.

An aerial view showing part of the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 which is now kept in the corner of a salvage yard near Tattershall, Lincolnshire.
Image:
An aerial view of some of the plane wreckage recovered, which was kept in a Lincolnshire salvage yard

June 2014: Six members of Megrahi’s family join forces with 24 British relatives of those who died in the atrocity to seek another appeal against his conviction in the Scottish courts.

December 2014: Scotland’s then top prosecutor, lord advocate Frank Mulholland, reaffirms Megrahi’s guilt and pledges to track down his accomplices.

July 2015: Scottish judges rule relatives of the victims of the bombing should not be allowed to pursue an appeal on Megrahi’s behalf.

October 2015: Scottish prosecutors announce they want two Libyans they have identified as suspects to be interviewed by police.

July 2017: Megrahi’s family lodges a new bid to appeal against his conviction, five years after his death.

May 2018: The SCCRC says a full review of Megrahi’s case will be carried out to decide whether a fresh appeal against conviction can be made.

November 2018: A police investigation finds no evidence of criminality in relation to the handling of the Lockerbie investigation and prosecution.

March 2019: It’s revealed the Crown Office questioned retired Stasi agents over the bombing, examining the possible role of the East German intelligence service in the tragedy.

March 2020: The SCCRC rules a fresh appeal is to be allowed, and refers the case to the High Court of Justiciary.

June 2020: The appeal against the conviction of Megrahi is formally lodged at the High Court.

November 2020: A crowdfunder is launched to help pay for the appeal. It then begins at the High Court in Edinburgh, sitting as the Court of Appeal, and lasts three days.

December 2020: The US charges a “third conspirator” in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, on the 32nd anniversary of the atrocity.

January 2021: Judges reject both grounds of appeal, meaning Megrahi’s conviction stands.

December 2022: Third suspect – Libyan Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al Marimi – is taken into US custody and appears at Washington DC federal courthouse accused of being the bombmaker.

Still of Abu Agila Mas’ud attached. Released by Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.
Credit: Alexandria Sheriff's Office.
Image:
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al Marimi. Pic: Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.

December 2023: Marimi remains in US custody awaiting trial.

A new Sky documentary tells the story of Britain’s deadliest terrorist atrocity.

Lockerbie is available to watch on Sky Documentaries and Now.

Continue Reading

UK

What women in prison miss most, the prison schemes helping them rebuild their lives and why fewer may end up going to jail

Published

on

By

What women in prison miss most, the prison schemes helping them rebuild their lives and why fewer may end up going to jail

In a workshop in the far corner of the Styal prison estate, glass, plastic and metal are being smashed to the beat of pumping music.

Women at workstations are dismantling electronics with the energy of gym enthusiasts.

TVs and laptops, discarded at local recycling centres across England, have ended up here, on the edge of Wilmslow, Cheshire.

But amid the whiz of drills, the crunch of screens being separated from their plastic casings and the clatter of electronic boards ripped out and chucked in big bins, something else is being recycled – women’s lives.

“You get a lot of frustration out, because obviously a lot of girls have got a lot of anger, you know,” says Joanne*, who is serving time for drug offences.

She has joined this activity not for the £10 per 70 TVs she breaks apart, but because the programme – called Recycling Lives – could give her the skills and the support to keep her out of jail in the future.

Only 12% of women are employed six months after leaving prison, compared to 25% of men. In the general population employment levels between men and women are 78% to 72%.

More on Prisons

Ex-prisoners with a job are far less likely to re-offend. So, women prisoners are at a disadvantage. Often a man is connected to the crime they committed.

“For 90% of the women in prison, there’s always a male involved in why they’ve committed crime, it is the case with me as well,” says Joanne, who tells me she was pressured into dealing drugs by her partner.

A Recycling Lives workshop in Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Official Ministry of Justice statistics say that at least 60% of women in prison are victims of domestic violence and most will have experienced some form of abuse as a child.

Many, too, are mothers and they feel the guilt of separation every day. Joanne says of her son: “It’s my sister picking him up from school, not me.

“It’s my sister there on Christmas day, not me. Birthdays, all the special occasions. It’s heart-breaking.

“People think prison is easy. You are ripped away from your family and your children. It’s not easy.”

As if in illustration, the glass cracks on an iPad, as she peels it away with her screwdriver.

Official figures say there are around 3,500 women in prison and it is estimated that about half are mothers.

‘I’m trying to give them a future’

The workshop manager Yvonne Grime knows this all too well. A former serial offender herself, she’s the first former inmate at Styal to now hold a set of keys to the prison.

“The biggest thing for me [as a prisoner] was leaving my children,” she says, “and I still carry that guilt round, but I have come through it.”

A Recycling Lives workshop in Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Part of her redemption is to help the women in her workshop. The Recycling Lives programme transformed her life, and she wants to give back.

She says: “I’m trying to give them a future. I’m trying to give you some hope that they can that they can change.

“Get the children back, find a job, find a home. There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Her work is part manager and part mentor. “When I first started, I thought I’m just going to come in and run this workshop,” she said.

“I didn’t realise I had to be their mum, their dad, their brother, their sister, the doctor, the nurse, the everything that comes with it.

“If I had a salary for every one of those professions, I’d be absolutely minted.”

Read more:
Justice secretary’s ‘ultimate ambition’ to close women’s prisons
Ex-prisoner shares what life’s like in a women’s jail

Recycling Lives workshop manager Yvonne Grime speaks to Jason Farrell
Image:
Yvonne Grime says ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel’ for female prisoners

Styal isn’t what you expect a prison to look like.

Inside the high fences and barbed wire are sixteen austere red-brick Victorian houses.

Once an orphanage, they’re now the prison’s accommodation blocks.

Ted the prison cat, wanders from block to block, and has already served several of his nine lives in the compound.

Ted the cat at Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution

Along with recycling TV sets, women can learn to guide and drive forklift trucks.

They are quick with their tools, spinning through one appliance after another with remarkable and methodical destructive pace.

But the real advantage of the programme is that it continues on the outside. Only 6% of people who go through Recycling Lives go on to commit further crime. The general reoffending rate is 25%.

In a warehouse in Preston, former inmates are involved in recycling food from supermarkets and farms, then sent to foodbanks.

A Recycling Lives depot in Preston

Here we meet Naomi Winter, who – three years since being released from jail – is now a manager at the food distribution depot.

The hardest thing about prison for her too was being separated from a child.

“I was put in prison when my baby is only three months old,” she said.

“So, it was like losing an arm, like losing a piece of my DNA.

“I still woke up for night feeds in the night and stuff like that.”

She says there wasn’t the mental health provision inside of prison to help her deal with post-natal depression, and she spent way too much time alone with her thoughts.

She was in and out of prison for drug offences and violence eight times by the age of 30 and first jailed aged 15, for breaching an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO).

She feels even short prison sentences can ruin lives, and says: “You take women who’s robbed a block of cheese to feed the child.

“They put them in prison for 28 days. They take the home, take the kids, they lose the family, and they get out with nothing. You just create a criminal right there.

“You’ve just created a woman who’s got nothing to lose. You’re also releasing them with a sleeping bag in a tent and telling them to go and sleep in the woods.”

Recycling Lives' Naomi Winter speaks to Jason Farrell
Image:
Naomi Winter feels even short prison sentences can ruin women’s lives

Alternatives to custody

The government recognises that prison isn’t working for many of the women who end up there.

It’s why, with women being mostly non-violent offenders and serving short sentences, the government is setting up a Women’s Justice Board to look at reducing the number who go into prison with alternatives such as community sentences and intervention projects tackling the root causes of re-offending.

The Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, told Sky News: “For many women, prison isn’t working. Most women in prisons are victims themselves. Over half are mothers, with a prison sentence separating parent and child.

“That’s why I am establishing a new Women’s Justice Board, tasked with reducing the number of women in prison by exploring alternatives to custody for female offenders.”

Styal Prison and Young Offender Institution, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Read more from Sky News:
Army officer charged over dummy grenade alert
The bizarre story of a fake carer in Hampshire

Chief Executive of Recycling Lives, Alasdair Jackson says: “There are certain things we all need as human beings: One is a place to live, one is a job to be able to pay for that place to live and then a support network.

“But there are a lot more factors that women have to contend with; there’s children, there is maybe domestic abuse, there’s everything that goes on around that, but when you give people a chance, when you give people the skills that they need, it is life-changing.

“And when you change a woman’s life, you are often changing the family’s life and the children’s life.”

Chief Executive of Recycling Lives Alasdair Jackson OBE speaks to Jason Farrell
Image:
Alasdair Jackson says ‘when you change a woman’s life, you are often changing the family’s life’

Prison is supposed to be part punishment, part repair job. But there are limited programmes like Recycling Lives, and for many women entering jail currently, the only recycling is back into criminality.

* names have been changed

Continue Reading

UK

World’s oldest man John Tinniswood dies aged 112, Guinness World Records says

Published

on

By

World's oldest man John Tinniswood dies aged 112, Guinness World Records says

The world’s oldest man has died at the age of 112, the Guinness World Records has announced.

John Tinniswood was born in Liverpool on 26 August 1912, the year the Titanic sank. He was a lifelong Liverpool FC fan, born just 20 years after the club was founded.

He died on Monday at a care home in Southport, Guinness World Records said.

In a statement, his family said: “His last day was surrounded by music and love.

“John always liked to say thank you. So on his behalf, thanks to all those who cared for him over the years, including his carers at the Hollies Care Home, his GPs, district nurses, occupational therapist and other NHS staff.”

In April 2024, aged 111, he became the world’s oldest living man, following the death of 114-year-old Juan Vicente Perez from Venezuela.

Mr Tinniswood as a younger man. Pic: Guinness World Records
Image:
Mr Tinniswood was born in Liverpool on 26 August 1912, the year the Titanic sank. Pic: Guinness World Records

Mr Tinniswood’s key advice for staying healthy was to practice moderation. “If you drink too much or you eat too much or you walk too much; if you do too much of anything, you’re going to suffer eventually.”

More from UK

But when asked the secret to his longevity after turning 112 in August, Mr Tinniswood put it all down to “just luck”.

“I can’t think of any special secrets I have,” he said. “I was quite active as a youngster, I did a lot of walking.

“Whether that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But to me, I’m no different [to anyone]. No different at all.

“I just take it in my stride like anything else, why I’ve lived that long I have no idea at all.”

John Alfred Tinniswood 
Pic: Guinness World Records
Image:
Mr Tinniswood was named the world’s oldest man in April this year.
Pic: Guinness World Records

Apart from a portion of battered fish and chips every Friday, Mr Tinniswood did not follow any particular diet, and said earlier this year he felt “no different” turning 112.

“I don’t feel that age, I don’t get excited over it. That’s probably why I’ve reached it.

“I just take it in my stride like anything else, why I’ve lived that long I have no idea at all.”

He lived through both world wars and was a Second World War veteran – having worked in an administrative role for the Army Pay Corps.

In addition to accounts and auditing, his work involved logistical tasks such as locating stranded soldiers and organising food supplies. He went on to work as an accountant for Shell and BP before retiring in 1972.

He met his wife, Blodwen, at a dance in Liverpool. They were together for 44 years before Blodwen died in 1986.

John Alfred Tinniswood  
Pic: Guinness World Records
Image:
Mr Tinniswood was the oldest surviving male Second World War veteran.
Pic: Guinness World Records

Mr Tinniswood is survived by his daughter Susan, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, and lived to be the fourth-oldest British man in recorded history.

His family added: “John had many fine qualities. He was intelligent, decisive, brave, calm in any crisis, talented at maths and a great conversationalist.

“John moved to the Hollies rest home just before his 100th birthday and his kindness and enthusiasm for life were an inspiration to the care home staff and his fellow residents.”

The oldest ever man was Jiroemon Kimura from Japan, who lived to the age of 116 years 54 days and died in 2013.

The world’s oldest living woman, and oldest living person, is Japan’s 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka.

Continue Reading

UK

Barry Island: Two boys arrested after 12-year-old girl injured in ‘serious assault’

Published

on

By

Barry Island: Two boys arrested after 12-year-old girl injured in 'serious assault'

Two teenage boys have been arrested after the suspected stabbing of a 12-year-old girl.

South Wales Police were called to Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan at around 5pm on Sunday to a report of an assault near the Harbour Road car park in the seaside resort.

The girl, whose condition is described as not life-threatening, was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff with serious injuries.

Police say they have arrested two local boys, aged 13 and 15, on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and they both remain in custody.

The younger of the two has also been arrested on suspicion of possession of a bladed article.

Detective Inspector Phil Marchant from South Wales Police said the incident and “the ages of those involved” would “cause worry within the community”.

He said the two suspects are “known to the victim” and were arrested within an hour.

More on Wales

“At this stage we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the assault,” he added.

Read more from Sky News:
Conor McGregor speaks after losing civil rape case
Teen who crashed into woman while driving with knees jailed

South Wales Police said tackling knife crime was a priority for the force and it was providing support to parents, teachers and community groups.

The police investigation into the alleged assault is ongoing.

Continue Reading

Trending