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Lockerbie

Lockerbie

A Father’s Search for Justice (Soon to be a Major TV Series starring Colin Firth)

by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph

Imprint: Birlinn

5.1 x 7.8 in, 4pp b/w plates

Paperback
9781780279206
February 2025
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$16.95

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Paperback
9781780276489
July 2021
Temporarily out of stock. Ships in 8-12 weeks.

$21.95

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Praise

The book of the brand-new miniseries which airs in January 2025, starring Colin Firth as Jim Swire and directed by Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father).

The destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 was the largest attack on Britain since World War Two. 259 passengers and 11 townsfolk of Lockerbie were murdered. Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime. He maintained his innocence until his death in 2012.

Among the passengers was Flora, beloved daughter of Dr Jim Swire. Jim accepted American claims that Libya was responsible, but during the Lockerbie Trial he began to distrust key witnesses and supposed firm evidence. Since then it has been revealed that the USA paid millions of dollars to two central identification witnesses, and the only forensic evidence central to the prosecution has been discredited.

The book takes us along Dr. Swire’s journey as his initial grief and loss becomes a campaign to uncover the truth behind not only a personal tragedy but one of the modern world’s most shocking events.

'A shattering tale of grief and love' – Daily Mail

Jim Swire was a GP when his daughter was killed in the Lockerbie bombing. He became a spokesman for UK Families Flight 103 and has worked tirelessly for the truth to be told about the bombing.

Peter Biddulph began working with Jim to tell his story in 1999. Within ten days someone had accessed his computer and copied all notes and files, including the manuscript. Jim Swire’s intention to write a book had made him a campaigner for the truth and also a ‘person of interest’.

It is hard to read this book without concluding that Dr Swire is right, and that for reasons that are both understandable and shameful, successive British governments repeated obstructed the investigation and they did so at the instigation of our American allies. … This book recounts Swire's long and painful search for the truth about Lockerbie and his version is persuasive. It is disturbing too because, if he has it right, the Scottish judges who have now three times rejected appeals against the original verdict, have made it hard to have confidence in the integrity of our law' ~The Scotsman

Fascinating, compelling – a book about international intrigue, personal feelings, and ethics. Right at its heart is the search for truth' ~Kate Adie

Jim Swire has devoted his life to trying to establish who was responsible for the crime. He has, by his account, been thwarted at every turn' ~Yorkshire Post