Original subtitles

All that blood on his hands.

How can you, of all people, bear to be in the same room as him?

Will, you monster, give it back. I'm going to be late.

- What do you look like? - Stop being so annoying.

I haven't left yet and you're stealing my clothes?

Oh, it's for the party tonight. Can I? Please?

- Fine. -Right.

- Washed and ironed as commanded. -Thank you, thank you.

Oh, gosh, Flora, look at this mess.

Imagine ditching your family at Christmas for a new boyfriend.

Oh, shut up.

It's too full.

It's fine.

Ta-da!

- Don't be sad. - Oh, let me be sad.

First Christmas without you.

And I'll deal with you when I get back.

Remember, a baseball bat and a Yankees cap!

- Please drive carefully, Cathy! -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Go and have the time of your life.

- Love you, Dad. - I love you too.

Bye, darling.

Bye!

- Bye, darling. - See ya!

Have fun tonight.

Whew! Just made it.

Had to beg them to let me on.

He's much, much better.

And he's not in any pain, that's the main thing.

You have my permission to spoil him.

- Turkey and all the trimmings. - Ah. Thank you, Dr. Swire.

I'll look in after Christmas. But if anything comes up, call me,

- any time, day or night. - Yes, I will.

This is Captain MacQuarrie speaking. We are currently cruising at...

It is a computer science program that we are working on together.

Yes, it is very complicated.

I won't bore you. Um... So what is it that you do?

I'm a PhD student, doing research at

The University College, London...

♪ Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose... ♪

- Come on, they must have this at home. Come on. - No, I can't.

♪ You may even say it glows

♪ All of the other reindeers...*

♪ Then one foggy Christmas Eve

♪ Santa came to say

♪ Rudolph with your nose so bright

♪ Won't you guide my sleigh tonight

♪ Then how the reindeer loved him... ♪

Hi, Mrs. Walker!

Oh, hello. I hope you've done your homework.

♪ You'll go down in history ♪

Very good. Very good.

Whoo!

Santa, you're early.

Ah. Puncture?

Mr. Edwards is going to show me how to fix it.

Nice.

♪ ...jingle all the way

♪ Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh

♪ Hey, jingle bells, jingle bells...*

Excuse me.

- You got the keys? - Yeah.

Oh, God, that's Stephen...

Where's my house gone?

Where's my mum and dad, Mrs. Walker?

Where did they go?

...we interrupt this program for a newsflash.

There are reports coming in of an air crash

near the town of Lockerbie

in the Scottish borders...

I bought a calendar this year,

so I'll know how many days there are till Christmas.

All right, Will?

Yeah.

- They suit you. - What do?

When are we expecting Cathy back?

Oh, she shouldn't be much longer.

Dad, Mum, come here.

Why? What is it?

A newsflash, a plane's gone down.

...just north of the Scottish border.

The plane disappeared off radar screens at 19 minutes past 7:00.

Pan Am Flight 103 took off from Heathrow at 6:25 this evening...

Was that her flight number? Jim, is that Flora's flight number?

I don't know.

Pan Am have released

- emergency telephone numbers. - A pen, quick.

They are...

It won't be her flight. It can't be.

- Still engaged. - Keep trying.

Investigators will want to see if there's any evidence

of a sudden cabin depressurization...

Uh, what's going on?

-Cathy, did Flora make her flight? - Yeah, I think so.

Oh!

Are you sure?

This suggests that whatever disaster befell the jumbo jet

happened very quickly.

What's happened?

Once the tragic task of dealing with the dead and injured has been completed,

accident investigators will search for...

Okay, so listen up. First priority is gonna be to find survivors.

Sir, I just had a call from a farmer up in Tundergarth.

There's bodies on his farm.

That's three miles away. Who knows Tundergarth Farm?

I do. It's Grant Nelson's farm.

-What's your name? - Ellen.

Okay, Ellen, take this group with you now.

- Get there now. Hurry! - Okay.

Come on, this way.

Why is no one answering?

Other people will be trying to call.

Yes, but I've been trying for two hours.

Hello? Hello?

Pan Am desk, JFK Airport.

He's my brother, his name's Tom.

Thomas Joseph Ammerman.

Please. Just a moment, sir.

I'm calling about my daughter, Flora Swire.

Sir, I'm afraid I have no news at the moment.

Nothing?

So all your damn computers

and you can't say whether my child is on that plane!

We're doing everything we can to get more details.

That's all I can tell you right now. I'm sorry.

Hey, over here.

Watch where you're treading.

Over here...

I couldn't leave him lying there.

God rest his soul.

There's more. All over.

I stopped counting after 50.

Who are they?

I don't know.

They said they were crash investigators or something.

They got here awfully quick.

Spread out!

Hello? Jim Swire speaking.

Good evening, sir. I'm calling from Pan Am.

- Finally. - We have confirmation for you.

The passenger list has been checked and verified.

Flora MacDonald Margaret Swire

was a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103.

I'm afraid there are no survivors.

Are you sure?

Are you completely sure?

Who gave you this information?

Can you recheck, please?

No...

Yes, I would like you to do that now.

No, no, no.

The small, quiet town of Lockerbie

is waking up this morning to the sheer unmitigated horror

of Britain's worst-ever air crash.

259 people were on board Pan Am Flight 103

when it exploded over the Scottish town.

Hello?

Is anyone home?

The search for survivors has so far proved unsuccessful.

Though we still do not know

how many people on the ground have been killed,

the scale of this disaster is unmatched.

What is not yet known

is whether this was human or mechanical error,

or an act of terrorism.

One thing is for certain,

life will never be the same again.

It was like the world was on fire.

Thick smoke...

I saw the explosion of flames rise up.

The sound of screaming.

There were bodies everywhere.

In a matter of seconds,

the community was ripped by explosions and fire.

An earthquake, some residents thought...

As the news reached John F. Kennedy airport,

so did the stream of relatives

discovering the full horror that awaited them.

Among the passengers were 38 students

from Syracuse University in New York.

Christmas is a special time for the young,

for those who carry the twin promises of hopes and dreams...

It's beyond anything in one's experience.

The giant aircraft with its holiday travelers

apparently crashed directly into a gas station.

Fireball rose hundreds of feet...

...four days after the disaster,

the area search has been extended yet again.

No indication that there were any problems.

There was no contact from the captain.

They'll be looking at two theories,

one that the crash was caused by a structural fault,

the other, that a terrorist bomb had been planted onboard.

Intelligence sources believe it to have been a revenge attack by Iran

for the American downing of an Iranian Airbus in July,

in which 290 people lost their lives.

The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher,

will today attend a memorial service in Lockerbie,

where she will later meet the families of the victims of Flight 103.

I lost my dear husband, Peter.

I'm so sorry.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher.

The Transport Secretary, Mr. Paul Channon.

Paul Channon, Transport Secretary. I'm so sorry.

Hello.

Paul Channon, Transport Secretary.

Dr. Jim Swire. This is my wife, Jane.

Mrs. Swire...

Do I know you?

I was in the year below you at Eton.

Oh, yes, of course. Yes.

Swire, yes.

Who was it you lost?

Our daughter, Flora.

My sincere condolences to you both.

And let me assure you, we are working around the clock

to bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice.

They say in the press it may have been Iran.

Is that true? A revenge attack?

I'm afraid I can't comment on that.

Although knowing their track record...

Minister?

Our daughter's body is still here in Lockerbie.

We were informed by letter a week ago that we weren't allowed to see her,

but we don't know why.

I'm sorry, I can't do anything about that.

It is the decision of the Lord Advocate of Scotland.

Though if there's anything I can do further down the line,

don't hesitate to get in touch with my office.

- Murray Guthrie. - Jim Swire.

Full disclosure, I'm a journalist.

But don't worry, I'm not here to intrude on your grief.

'Course you are, if you're any journalist worth his salt.

My daughter's body is lying in this town's ice rink right now.

Town this size, where else could they have put the bodies?

They bring us here to sing hymns and listen to sermons

and we're expected to leave without even saying goodbye?

It's inhumane.

It was a psychiatrist's recommendation.

He advised the Lord Advocate against letting any of you see the bodies.

He thought it would be too traumatic.

It should be our choice.

You're a doctor, Jim Swire?

I've seen doctors going in and out of the ice rink constantly.

If you want to see your daughter, I know what I'd do.

How do you think I got in here?

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I'm going to see Flora.

- They said we couldn't. - I know. I don't care.

I can get us in. If you want to.

No. No, um, I can't.

Please, Jim. Don't go. Stay with us.

What are you doing?

This building is closed to the general public.

I'm Jim Swire. I'm a GP.

My family and I have driven up from Bromsgrove. It took six hours.

I'm sorry. I'm under strict orders not to let anyone in.

I want to see my daughter.

Prepare yourself.

Dr. Swire, as you're here now,

can you confirm for me that this is your daughter?

Did Flora have any identifying marks?

It's her. It's Flora.

Thank you for your kindness.

I was hoping to see you at the town hall, Mr. Nelson.

Not my thing. I was at the service. What is it you're wanting?

To know about the men who came to your farm the night of the crash.

There's a few folk I've been talking to who said they saw 'em.

They told me they were crash investigators.

- You don't think they were? - I don't know.

- Searching through people's luggage... - You're joking?

Cutting people's suitcases open,

pulling stuff out of people's belongings...

Some people are saying they saw FBI caps.

Others were convinced they were CIA.

I don't know, there was a lot going on that night.

All I do know is they were here before anyone else.

In and out by first light.

If you're here for an interview, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to...

- get moving on. -Don't worry, the reason I'm here

is I've been looking into some of the things that happened

the night of the crash.

I've read your articles in the Dumfries Courier.

Ah, well, at least somebody does.

So, um, this anonymous phone call

to the US Embassy in Helsinki, 5th of December last year.

Yes, I know about that. I saw the report on Newsnight.

The embassy dismissed it as a hoax.

- That doesn't strike you as odd? - I didn't dwell on it too much, to be honest.

Well, the caller stated that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt

would be blown up over Christmas by someone associated with

a Syrian-backed terror group.

- I'm sorry, I don't see-- - Dumfries and Galloway police

are currently working on the theory that the bomb originated in Frankfurt.

- Frankfurt? - Aye.

So we've got Pan Am, Christmas, and Frankfurt,

all mentioned in this supposed hoax call.

Yet a memo pinned up in the US Embassy

advised all staff not to fly Pan Am over Christmas.

The public never got that warning.

Flora's flight to New York was four days before Christmas.

One of Pan Am's busiest times of the year. One of their busiest routes.

259 people died on board that night.

Sixteen of them were crew. There was 243 passengers on board.

So if my math is correct, when Flight 103 left Heathrow,

there was 165 seats...

empty.

I remember. She was surprised how easy it was to buy a ticket.

Rumor has it some of those empty seats

had been booked by embassy staff to fly home for the holidays.

Did they change their flights when they heard about that phone call?

They can't have done. That was a hoax call.

It doesn't end there.

October last year, the German police conducted a raid

codenamed "Autumn Leaves"

on a Palestinian terror group, the PFLP-GC.

"Autumn Leaves" PFLP- GC. What does that stand for?

Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a mouthful.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, General Command.

Now...

During the raid, the police found explosive devices

built into Toshiba radio-cassette recorders

which the PFLP-GC were planning to put on commercial airliners.

The German police arrested 17 members of the organization,

and then contacted the Department of Transport.

Who issued that alert to all UK airports in November last year.

- It mentions explosive devices. - It does.

Now, brace yourself, Jim.

I've got a source in the Lockerbie investigation

who says that his forensic people have found several blast-damaged pieces

of a radio cassette-recorder and part of an instruction manual.

Let me guess. Toshiba?

You guess right.

Jim, how are you? Sorry you've been kept waiting.

Minister, I just wanted to ask you about what your department knew

about the phone call warning to the American Embassy in Helsinki.

Yes, I was briefed on that some weeks after.

But it was a hoax, though, wasn't it.

Well, that's what they claimed,

but some things have come to light since it was reported.

Forgive me, Jim, but this is a US Embassy matter,

not one for the Department of Transport.

Now, I'm afraid I've been called to a cabinet meeting.

- I'm very sorry. - What about this?

Well, this is restricted. Where did you get it?

It's a telex sent to all UK airports' heads of security by Mr. James Jack,

your Department's aviation security advisor, warning--

Yes, it was a general warning. So it was not deemed serious enough--

To let the general public know about the possible dangers?

Let them decide whether to fly or not?

Listen...

The decisions we make are made on the best advice.

If we made public every warning we received,

we would have to shut the airports down and ground hundreds of flights daily.

There would be uproar.

Our country and the US receive these threats on a weekly basis

because of who we are and what we stand for.

I just want answers, Minister.

Yes, I do understand. This is an incredibly difficult time.

Let me look into it. See what I can find for you.

Paul Channon, the Transport Secretary, has today been sacked

by the Prime Minister as part of her cabinet reshuffle.

In off-the-record comments to journalists,

Channon let slip that investigators were days away from making an arrest.

No words about Channon being the unnamed--

Authorities say they have insufficient evidence

to charge a suspect.

The most important thing is to track these people down,

so that they are brought to justice.

And punish those who did this if you can ever find them.

There is an intelligence community consensus,

the destruction of Pan Am 103

was carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command.

Pointing the finger of blame may prove difficult, however.

The group's leader, Ahmed Jibril,

acted on orders from Iran with acquiescence--

President Hafez Assad of Syria is believed by US Intelligence

to control the two Palestinian groups

which have planted bombs on airliners in the past.

Until the United States firmly establishes

the responsibility for the bombing,

the administration is able to avoid making

the very difficult choice

of what to do about it.

- You made it. Wonderful. - Bit of a rush, but yes.

Um...

- Jim and Jane Swire, everyone. - Hello.

Welcome to UK Families Flight 103.

We should, first of all, thank Jim

for his initiative in approaching Channon for a meeting.

It wasn't me who got him sacked, I promise you.

Either way, a question I'd like to start with

is if Channon knows, if the detectives on the investigation know,

why don't they make the names public?

My guess is they're still gathering evidence, and Channon spoke out of turn.

Could be he was grand-standing to those journalists.

But why all so secretive?

Probably because it involves Iran and Syria, Palestinian terrorists,

they need to tread carefully, build their case.

Seven months since the crash, and we're still all in the dark about why or how.

And these warnings you've told us about, Jim, I mean,

why has no one explained them?

I've written several times to the new Transport Secretary, Cecil Parkinson,

but so far, I've had nothing back. Except "We will reply in due course."

Maybe he's trying to keep his job.

I have had one idea.

Uh, please forgive the quality.

I'm not the most adept with the photocopier.

And this is another plane crash?

Yeah. In June 1972,

BEA Flight 548 came down near Staines.

118 people died.

One day after it happened, the conservative government ordered

an independent inquiry into the crash.

To find out how it happened

and to make sure it never happened again.

So the criminal investigation will seek to find out

who planted that bomb.

But what we should be asking is how it happened.

How did a bomb get through airport security and onto Flight 103?

Were mistakes made? Were threat warnings ignored?

Why is there so much secrecy around this?

We have a right to know.

If the Staines crash merited an inquiry, then so does Lockerbie.

Thank you, Jim. I think we're all agreed on that.

Now next on the agenda, we were going to appoint a spokesperson for the group.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

What?

I have to look smart.

You're going on the radio, Jim.

With me I have Dr. Jim Swire,

spokesman for the UK Families Flight 103.

Now you're currently lobbying for an inquiry. Is that right?

That is correct, Jonathan. We're calling for an across the board,

independent inquiry, to look into the response

of the Department of Transport and the British government

to the warning they received from the German police.

We want to know why it wasn't acted upon.

So who knew what and when.

Many questions are still being asked

about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Was the official investigation obstructed? Has there been a cover-up?

Transport Department says it can't confirm

a news report quoting it,

that baggage on Pan Am 103 from Frankfurt was not screened again at London.

Whoever was behind this surely cannot believe their luck

at how easy it was

for their bomb to be loaded onto a commercial flight and blow it up,

causing hundreds of deaths. That is why we're pushing--

They were pushing very hard for a public inquiry.

I said to them that we didn't rule that out,

but our main concern was the criminal investigation--

Mr. Swire, I'm sorry to say that

Mr. Parkinson is sitting late in Parliament tonight.

The inquiry that Dr. Swire is asking for will be counterproductive

to Britain's international standing and its fight against terrorism.

I am exhausted.

Sick of the sound of my own voice.

What's that?

I only just found it.

Dear Miss Swire, I'm pleased to inform you that you have been accept...

accepted to study postgraduate medicine.

- Did you know she'd applied? - No, I didn't.

We must celebrate.

She used to love coming here as a child to feed the ducks.

- Congratulations, Flora. - Well done, darling.

She was following in your footsteps.

No, no. She'd have eclipsed me.

She'd have done something incredible.

Take a seat.

Some good news. Parkinson's finally

agreed to a meeting.

Jim Swire constantly snapping at his heels finally worked.

A gift.

I'm too good to you.

My article about this should hopefully be in the Glasgow Tribune next week.

I wanted to give you a sneak preview.

I know.

Good afternoon. Welcome.

- Um, have you been offered tea or coffee? - No, thank you.

Straight down to business then.

Helsinki warning, not acted upon.

German police warning following the discovery of Toshiba devices

in the "Autumn Leaves" raid, not acted upon.

And now, this letter your department sent to Heathrow Management,

seemingly dated December 19th, two days before Flight 103 came down.

This time it included a German police photo of the radio-cassette recorder

in which they had found explosive devices.

Your department's advice to security staff is that if they're suspicious

about anything contained within a piece of luggage,

they should place it in the hold.

Which is exactly where the bomb on Flight 103 went off.

- Dr. Swire-- - Even if they think something is potentially dangerous,

they're still to allow it onto the plane. It beggars belief.

This advice was given on the basis that most terror attacks

on commercial airliners are hijackings.

Our reasoning for advising luggage containing anything suspicious

was put in the hold was to separate a potential hijacker from his weapon,

and thus alleviate their ability to hijack a plane.

I'm sorry, that is not good enough. This proves you had legitimate concerns.

Why else include a picture of the radio-cassette recorder?

That's not even the worst of it. I have it on good authority

that although this was dated December the 19th, it was received late.

It only reached Heathrow after the plane came down.

Because your department couldn't get photocopies made in time.

It wasn't just ignored.

Like the Helsinki warning, it was practically withheld.

You failed to alert your airports to three legitimate threats.

You failed to keep your passengers safe. You failed in your duty.

We have to weigh up--

No, no. You withheld information, Minister.

Your government knew, your department knew,

Heathrow management, the State Department,

the American Embassy staff, they all knew.

The only people who didn't know? The passengers on Flight 103.

With respect--

No, you talk about respect, but you're showing us none.

Your government is not taking responsibility.

You are denying, you are evading the truth.

- And I find it despicable. - Jim, please.

- Perhaps some tea after all. - We'd rather have an inquiry.

I have nightmares.

Almost every night.

Was our daughter conscious as she fell through the sky?

I've read about it. I shouldn't have, really, but I had to.

The lack of oxygen at 33,000 feet

would have meant Flora lost consciousness immediately.

But as she fell and the oxygen in the atmosphere increased,

she would have come around.

An expert I talked to told me that Flora might have been conscious

for as much as 15 seconds.

Fifteen seconds knowing she was falling to certain death.

One...

two...

three...

four...

five...

six...

seven...

eight...

nine...

ten...

eleven...

twelve...

thirteen...

fourteen...

fifteen.

Of course.

I will take your request to the Prime Minister tomorrow.

After months of deliberation, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

has announced categorically today

that there will be no independent inquiry

into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103,

which came down over Lockerbie in December last year,

killing all 259 passengers and 11 people on the--

Are we ever going to know what really happened?

We will, I promise you.

How it happened, why it happened.

Who did it.

I will never stop.

Not until we know the answer to everything.

Did you kill my daughter?