Lockerbie bomber has ‘slim chance’ of appeal victory

Lawyers for a former Libyan secret service agent today appealed to a Scottish court to overturn his conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, claiming to have new evidence proving a miscarriage of justice.

But trial watchers cautioned that Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi has ‘‘no more than a slim chance’’ of winning his appeal, because of the rigid legal standards applied by Scottish High Court judges during his initial trial that ended one year ago.