Lockerbie: A Search for Truth – Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Lockerbie: A Search for Truth begins on 3rd May 2000. Its been 11 years since the Lockerbie bombings and the trial is set to take place. Jim Swire shows up with Jane at the airbase ready for, what they hope, is justice.

There are 1000 witnesses for the prosecution, and the trial is not going to be a simple matter. It could well be over 6 months before they get anything concrete and a verdict, but the US Department of Justice is convinced that they will get their men behind bars all the same.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi arrives to stand trial, alongside his co-conspirator Lamin Khalifah Fhimah. The accused plead not guilty, so we’re definitely going to trial. As for Jim and Jane, they hunker down in a little apartment in Utrecht. They both know this is not going to be a simple matter, and their scenes are interesting as they barely say anything to one another, knowing that they’re going to have to relive some harrowing details here.

With Alan Turnbull as the prosecutor, the various witnesses head to the stand and the statements made are harrowing, to say the least. It’s too much for Jane, who decides to head back home, while Jim does his own little investigation on the side, going over the evidence he’s collected and the different witness statements.

The investigation moves to forensics, where we find out about the boards and their connections, all of which details that Jim found out last episode. On top of this, we also get to the crucial parts of the trial, including an arms dealer, who confirms that he sold timers to Libyans. The same timers that were used for the bombs.

However, when he checks out the fragments in evidence, he claims that it’s not the same and appears to be a fake. He’s adamant that what they have in evidence is actually a counterfeit, but Murray believes he’s denying responsibility here on purpose to keep his reputation intact. Eventually, under intense scrutiny, he does cave.

Next up is business owner Tony Gauci, the man who runs the Maltese shop for the clothing. He links one of the suspects to the sold clothes and that happens to be al-Megrahi.

However, next it’s the turn of the defence, fronted by William Taylor. He questions Gauci around his statement, especially as his eyewitness statement doesn’t hold up to further scrutiny. He basically falls right into a hole, all but admitting that his memory is not good.

In the midst of this, we cut across to Jane, who does her own soul-searching back up. She shows up at Lockerbie and is shown the exact spot that Flora was found by one of the witnesses. It’s a heartbreaking moment, as Jane weeps while touching the ground, all of which put together with solid editing as we eventually fade cut across to the graveyard, where Jane pays her respects to Flora at her grave.

It’s a nice respite from the courtroom drama, but when we return, Majid Giaka, a CIA informant and Libyan Arab Airlines Employee, takes to the stand. His voice is distorted and he’s hidden from view while giving his statement. Apparently Fhimah actually showed off TNT in his desk. Alongside this, they also learn that the pair – Fhimah and al-Megrahi – just walked through security without their bags being checked.

One of the defence lawyers, Richard Keen, spins a story of manipulation and coercion given he’s been wanting to move over to the US. It would appear that he’s actually in collusion with the US Department of Justice. This is what Keen pummels when he senses an unreliable witness, and things do not look good for the case.

It’s all but confirmed when Jim speaks to Brian afterwards, but this also throws a lot of questions surrounding the case and whether they’ll actually get justice.

A big point of contention here though stems from John Bedford, a baggage handler over at Heathrow. He claims that there were two suitcases that showed up while he was away on his tea break, and anyone who worked at the airline could have put it there.

They were hard-shelled suitcases and if these were the actual suitcases holding the bomb, then it throws the entire prosecution’s case about the bomb being on the Frankfurt case and al-Megrahi being behind this, completely out of the water.

For now though, an explosives expert is brought in by the prosecution in order to discredit the defence looking to pin this on another nation other than Libya. Well, while listening to the expert, Jim realizes that the bomb may well have actually been put on at Heathrow, backing up the baggage handler’s initial statement. Nobody is challenging this, so Jim decides to stand up and make a scene of it, with a note reading “103 exploded after 38 minutes” on the glass.

Murray manages to calm Jim down but the fact of the matter is, he’s onto something and it would appear that the entire case may have been built around false evidence. Working with Murray, the pair realize that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah are innocent as the real facts don’t match.

The Episode Review

The Lockerbie case has a number of theories flying around about who did it, who may be innocent and exactly what this means for our characters, and this episode exemplifies why. Some of the witnesses are very clearly working with the US to try and swing the case one way, and it would also seem that al-Megrahi and Fhimah could well be innocent.

This blows the entire case out the water and Jim Swire is obviously a man that’s pored over every part of this since Flora’s death, turning the entire case inside out to make sense of what’s happened.

The show has been a solid watch and although a little slow, the moments of respite including Jane are a nice touch, allowing to see both sides of how this case has affected them both.

Ultimately, everything here is left wide open for the final few episodes, which promise to be quite the intense rollercoaster ride.