Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is dead

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person who has been convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has died at his home in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Megrahi, 60 was serving time in a Scottish prison before he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 for killing 270 people after an American plane exploded over the town of Lockerbie.

Megrahi was convicted by a special court in the Netherlands in 2001 that ruled under Scottish Law.

He was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds after he was thought to be dying cancer and was said to have only months left to live but he lived nearly another three years.

His release at the time sparked the fury of many of the relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster.

Under Scottish law if you are going to die then you can appeal to be released for that reason and die at home with your family and not die in prison.

Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence before he was released.

He served the first part of his sentence at the maximum-security prison at Barlinnie, in Glasgow, but was transferred in 2005 to Greenock prison.

At the time, Scottish Justice Minister MacAskill said: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.

"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."

"Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs the we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people - no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated," he added.

The bombing is still the worst terrorist incident ever to have taken place on British soil.