Blinkbonny farmhouse, Newcastleton where the shirt collar PI/995 was found LOCKERBIE


Bomb trigger or clever fake? W


by Dr Morag Kerr


HEN Pan Am 103 blew apart in the sky over Lockerbie on December 21 1989 a 90 mph westerly gale blowing.


The wind spread falling debris from the disintegrating Boeing 747 on route to New York from London across the Dumfriesshire countryside. It was sorted by weight and air resistance resulting in two distinct “debris trails” of aircraſt parts. Most of the lighter luggage contents were found in a continuation of the southerly trail while papers and leters made it as far as the Northumberland coast, and some were lost to the North Sea.


The result was the early stages of the investigation resembled Shirt collar with PCB fragment and other debris extracted from it


a giant liter-picking operation. “If it isn’t growing, or a rock, pick it up” was the instruction to members of the investigation team tasked with retrieving every scrap of evidence.


As soon as the first pieces of the blast- damaged baggage container were brought in on Christmas Eve the police knew they were dealing with the mass murder of 270 people. Every item of debris recovered, down to the smallest rag or scrap of suitcase, was logged with the precise location where it had been found.


Most of the lighter luggage contents were found in a continuation of the southerly trail while papers and letters made it as far as the North- umberland coast, and some were lost to the North Sea.


One item designated PI/995, became a crucial clue and a nexus for numerous conspiracy theories. It was logged as being picked up near Newcastleton, 20 miles east of Lockerbie, on 13th January 1989. Much has been writen about the provenance of this item, a scrap of shirt collar burned by close proximity to the explosion. Particular atention has focussed on the scanty and problematic documentation of its most significant feature – a 1 cm square fragment of fibreglass printed circuit board found embedded in the cloth and dubbed PT/35b.


February 2016 15


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