A former investigator of the Lockerbie Air Disaster hopes “justice will prevail” when the trial of a suspect begins next year.
Former Detective Inspector Stuart Cossar, from Dumfries, was presented with his MBE at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, having received the accolade in the King’s New Years Honours List.
Mr Cossar received the honour for his work on the inquiry into the bombing and his support to the bereaved families.
Pan Am 103 exploded as it flew over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, on a flight from Heathrow to New York, killing 270 people – including 11 of the town’s residents.
The trial of alleged bomb-maker Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is due to begin in the US capital of Washington in May. The Libyan national denies making the device that caused the disaster.
Speaking after receiving his honour, Mr Cossar, said: “It means so much to me, but not only to me, to my family as well.
“The investigation is still live and we have a trial scheduled for next year in the US, and we hope that justice will prevail.
“I feel I’m not only representing myself and my family, but also the people of Lockerbie, and many colleagues I’ve worked with over the years in the investigation.”
Mr Cossar took the lead in working collaboratively with many agencies, including the Foreign and Commonwealth office and the FBI.
A decade ago he attended Libya during dangerous civil unrest at great personal risk, and made crucial connections with the Attorney General’s office there to secure vital evidence leading to the extradition of a suspect last year.
He retired as inspector and deputy senior investigating officer in the Lockerbie case in 2018 – before returning as a civilian member of support staff so he could continue to help relatives of the victims, having supported more than 100 families.
Mr Cossar said: “Now I have the grand title of investigation and information manager, and I’ve been in that post for over six years now. It’s such a rewarding job, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people – not just in the UK but throughout the world.
“And the families – they’re fantastic people.
“I really have a very strong bond with the families now, which I’ve developed over many years.”
More than 400 people have put their names forward for remote access to the criminal trial of Abu Agila Masud – including 31 from Lockerbie – which is set to begin on May 12, 2025.
He has pleaded not guilty to three charges – two of them being destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and the third being destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is so far the only man convicted in relation to the bombing, after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, sitting at a special court in the Hague in 2001.
He was sent to prison in Scotland but was controversially granted compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, returning home to Libya where he died in 2012.