What happened to Jim Swire? Lockerbie bombing campaigner's ...

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What happened to Jim Swire Lockerbie bombing campaigners

The doctor is being portrayed by Colin Firth in Sky drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, which tells the events of the disaster and after from his perspective.

Dr Jim Swire is the focal point of Sky drama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, which tells the story of the titular 1988 terrorist attack from his perspective.

The GP turned campaigner is portrayed by Colin Firth in the five-part TV series, which charts the events of the Lockerbie bombing from the event in 1988 to the death of convicted bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in 2012. Swire's 23-year-old daughter Flora was killed in the disaster when Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in a terrorist attack that killed all 243 passengers and 16 crew onboard.

Swire went on to have an important role in the aftermath of the bombing for years to come, and for those interested to learn more about the real man behind the series here is what you need to know.

Who is Jim Swire?

Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane, whose daughter Flora, 24, died in the Lockerbie air disaster, leave the Department of Transport in London where they and other relatives of Britons killed in the tragedy, met Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson to discuss airport security. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) — Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane's daughter Flora died in the Lockerbie terrorist attack. (Getty Images)

Swire is a doctor who became one of the faces of the Lockerbie bombing campaign group, who lobbied for the British and American governments to launch official investigations into the event. This was easier said than done, as Swire and fellow family member's of the victims worked tirelessly in order to get answers.

Read more:

Lockerbie drama writer didn't want to 'sugarcoat' horrific event for TV (Yahoo Entertainment, 7-min read)

Lockerbie Bombing: What happened on the day Pan Am Flight 103 exploded? (The Independent, 3-min read)

As a prominent activist Swire stopped at nothing for decades to try and do so, growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of transparency around the investigation. His quest for truth took him to many surprising places — laid out in his 2022 memoir Lockerbie: A Father's Search for Justice, which is the Sky TV series takes inspiration from.

Did Jim Swire take a fake bomb onto a plane?

Swire acted as the representative for the bereaved families of the Lockerbie bombing victims, and he wasn't afraid to take risks in order to be heard —regardless of whether people agreed with his methods. For example in 1990 Swire built a fake bomb to match the one that had detonated on Flight 103, he used a radio cassette player with marzipan inside to represent the explosive agent in the original bomb.

Swire took this device with him on a flight from Heathrow to New York City, the same route that the flight his daughter took, and was not stopped once along the way.

The campaigner used this as proof that airport security had not improved since the Lockerbie bombing as authorities claimed it had, but his methods was not universally celebrated in fact it led to him being criticised from people both in his campaign group and outside of it.

But Swire's point was made and, per the Los Angeles Times, he told American press afterwards: "You simply cannot imagine how depressing it was flying over the Atlantic knowing that there could easily be a bomb in the cargo hold below."

He added: "This was not a prank. It was a serious experiment, and unfortunately it succeeded. Here, 18 months after Lockerbie, one can take an identical device through security. I find that very depressing."

Did Jim Swire meet Colonel Muammar Gaddafi?

Doctor Jim Swire meeting Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) — Doctor Jim Swire meeting Colonel Gaddafi in Libya in an undated picture, they are said to have met four or five times. (Getty Images)

During his campaign Jim Swire was able to meet with Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi four or five times, Libya was held responsible for the Lockerbie bombing and two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, were later charged with being involved in the attack.

Swire had clandestine meetings with Gaddafi, only telling his wife Jane about them shortly before he would leave and keeping it a secret with government authorities. Upon their first meeting Swire is said to have pinned a UK Families Flight 103 badge on the leader's lapel in a show of solidarity for the victims.

His decision to meet with Gaddafi created even more animosity between him and other victims' families who felt it was a mistake to be so closely associated with the dictator.

Did Jim Swire campaign for convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's freedom?

(FILES) File photo taken February 18, 1992 in Tripoli shows convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi (C) being escorted by security officers. The Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing could be allowed to fly home to die over the next seven days, 21 years after the atrocity plunged Libya's ties with the West into a prolonged standoff, reports suggested on August 16, 2009. The former Libyan agent, who is dying of prostate cancer, is in a Scottish jail serving 27 years for killing 270 people when a Pan Am jet exploded over the Scottish village of Lockerbie on the night of December 21, 1988. AFP PHOTO/FILES/MANOOCHER DEGHATI (Photo credit should read MANOOCHER DEGHATI/AFP via Getty Images) — Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is pictured being arrested in 1992. (Getty Images)

Megrahi and Fhimah were indicted for the terrorist attack in 1991 and were put on trial in the Netherlands in a case governed by Scots law in 2000. Evidence in the case included Megrahi having an office in Switzerland in the same building as a clockmaker whose device was used to make the bomb, and clothing fragments that were traced to a shop in Malta and the shop owner identified Megrahi as a person he sold clothes to.

Megrahi was found guilty in January 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment, his co-accused Fhimah was found not guilty. Swire fainted when the verdict was given as he strongly believed that Megrahi was innocent and went on to argue publicly that it was a miscarriage of justice.

TRIPOLI, LIBYA - FEBRUARY 2, 2001: (FILE PHOTO) Lockerbie bombing defendant Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah greets visitors after Friday prayers February 2, 2001 at the Soukal Juima mosque in Tripoli, Libya. A Scottish court acquitted Fhimah but found co-defendant Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi guilty in the trial for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and sentenced him to life in prison. U.N. diplomats said August 12, 2003 that the U.S., Britain and Libya have reached an agreement that Muammar al Gadhafi's government would renounce terrorism, provide compensation to the families of the Pan Am victims and accept responsibility for the 1988 mid-air bombing of the plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed more than 270. The $2.7 billion settlement that Libya is expected to pay is about $10 million per victim and will be placed into the U.N-controlled Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. The three governments met August 11, 2003 in London to discuss how Libya could meet the final requirements needed for the removal of U.N. sanctions imposed after the bombing. (Photograph by Courtney Kealy/Getty Images) — Lamin Khalifah Fhimah was also accused of being involved in the terrorist attack, however he was found not guilty in January 2001, he is pictured in February that year. (Getty Images)

The doctor went on to set up the Justice for Megrahi Campaign in December 2008 when the convicted criminal was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. This campaign called for Megrahi to be allowed to return home to Libya while he awaited his second appeal against his conviction.

Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, and to facilitate his transfer from Scotland to Libya he dropped his second appeal. Swire met Megrahi in Tripoli, Libya in 2012 shortly before the latter's death from cancer, the doctor recalled that the last thing Megrahi said to him was: "I am going to a place where I hope soon to see Flora. I will tell her that her father is my friend."

Who Jim Swire believes committed the Lockerbie bombing

Swire has continued to publicly declare his belief that Megrahi was innocent and that it was Iran, not Libya, who was behind the attack. In 1988 suspicion had initially fallen on Iran and the Syrian-backed Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

Three months before the Lockerbie bombing a raid by West German police in Frankfurt led to members of the Palestinian militant group being arrested and it was discovered they were building bombs in record cassette players. However attention later turned to Libya after the discovery of the clothes from Malta.

Swire has argued that the Lockerbie bombing was in retaliation to the US shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane, incorrectly identified as a fighter jet, in July 1988. The attack led to the deaths of 290 civilians, and took place just six months before the Lockerbie bombing.

In an interview with the BBC in 2011, shortly after Gaddafi was deposed and killed by rebel fighters, Swire said: "Gaddafi would have known what was going to happen at Lockerbie and would have applauded it, because his capital city was bombed by the US air force two years before Lockerbie and therefore he had a reason for harbouring a desire for vengeance against the United States.

"But that opportunity for vengeance was not as strong as the opportunity that Iran had because they had an airbus shot down by a US missile cruiser only six months before Lockerbie, and proceeded to award the captain of the cruiser a medal when he got back to the United States. And Iran fought publicly to get revenge for that and six months later I believe that she did at Lockerbie."

Swire has argued that geopolitical events at the time —such as the Iranian Hostage Crisis and an upcoming election— meant that the finger was pointed instead to Libya.

Speaking with The Telegraph in 2023, Swire claimed: "What we’re being told is absolute nonsense from beginning to end. It was designed to protect the relationship between Britain and America and to help in getting home American hostages held by Iranian interests back in ’88."

Where is Jim Swire now?

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 10: (L to R) Catherine McCormack, Dr Jim Swire, Jane Swire and Colin Firth attend the Exclusive Screening of Sky Original — Jim and Jane Swire pictured with actors Catherine McCormack and Colin Firth at a screening for Lockerbie: A Search for Truth on December 10, 2024. (Getty Images for Sky UK)

Swire continues to work as an active campaigner for the truth behind the Lockerbie bombing, and has been calling for the UK government to make public secret papers about the attack. In fact, Swire hopes that the Sky drama and a 2023 documentary he made will help spark debate amongst the public about just that, and potentially lead to the pubic calling for change.

In his 2023 interview with The Telegraph, Swire said: "Enough honest, reliable and knowledgeable people have discovered the awful truth behind this to know that the truth will now be able to look after itself. If I die tomorrow, I know the truth will eventually come out."

He also spoke of how other members of his campaign group are beginning to die from old age, but said he still has hope that they will get answers "while we were still around."

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth is out now on Sky Atlantic and NOW.