Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. He was released in August. Photograph: PA
Relatives of people killed in the Lockerbie bombing have welcomed news that there could be a fresh investigation into the atrocity.
Families of British victims have been advised that police are following several new lines of inquiry, including a review of forensic evidence into the bombing.
A total of 270 people were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
It is understood that the Crown Office in Scotland has contacted relatives via email informing them of the plans for a new investigation.
The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Lindsey Miller, a senior procurator fiscal who was involved in preparing evidence for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's trial, has written: "Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued.
"Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end a further review of the case is under way and several potential lines of inquiry, both through a 'desktop' (paper) exercise and consultation with forensic science colleagues are being considered.
"You will of course appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to elaborate on these lines but please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open case'."
Pamela Dix, who lost her brother Peter in the 1988 bombing, said: "As far as we understand it there are avenues which are being pursued, and I think that should be interpreted as a good thing.
"Expectations around Megrahi's appeal were really quite high but hopes were profoundly dashed when the appeal was abandoned.
"The situation is unresolved and it is unfinished business."
Dr Jim Swire, who has long been a campaigner for a full inquiry into the bombing, said: "I think that if they are really going to have a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. I would be all for it.
"But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid."
Megrahi, the only man to be convicted of the bombing, was released on compassionate grounds from Greenock Prison in August.
The release of Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, led to protests from American relatives of Lockerbie victims.
The decision to free him and allow him to return home to Libya was taken by Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary in the minority SNP administration in Edinburgh.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Detective Chief Inspector Michael Dalgleish, who was part of the original team that brought the case against Megrahi, is heading the investigation.
Four detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police are understood to be working on the case full-time.
Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence officer, has always maintained that he had nothing to do with the bombing of Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York.
After being declared one of the two chief suspects behind the bombing by the British government in 1991, Megrahi spent nearly 10 years on the FBI's most wanted list.
He finally handed himself in to the United Nations in April 1999, saying he was willing to stand trial in a neutral country.
He was convicted of the mass murder in 2001 before a panel of Scottish judges at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands and told he would spend a minimum of 27 years in prison before being considered for parole.
He twice appealed against his conviction, arguing that the guilty verdict had been a miscarriage of justice – finally dropping his second appeal.
He was linked to the bombing by fragments of clothing that were found wrapped around the remnants of the Lockerbie bomb.
But his decision to drop his appeal left British families, many of whom are sceptical about his guilt, fearing that new information that should have been made public would remain secret.
News of a fresh inquiry comes as relatives' group UK Families Flight 103 delivered a letter to the prime minister, Gordon Brown, asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing under the auspices of the Inquiries Act 2005.
Members of the group have also requested a meeting with him.
A spokeswoman for the group said: "Since 1989 senior political figures from successive governments have agreed in principle to an inquiry but have qualified their comments by saying that it could not take place while the criminal investigation was ongoing.
"With the abandonment of Megrahi's appeal against his conviction, there has been no resolution to any aspect of responsibility for the bombing.
"During the trial and subsequently, we heard of 'significant information' from a foreign power. On repeated occasions, Her Majesty's government has sought to prevent or obstruct access to documents, some viewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, for reasons of 'national security'. We seek access to documents previously the subject of Public Interest Immunity Certificates.
"Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights demands that an inquiry into the circumstances of a death conform to certain minimum standards where it has occurred at the hands of a state or at the hands of agents of a state.
"As host nation, the state – ie the UK – had responsibility for the security of the aircraft, as confirmed in the findings of the Lockerbie fatal accident inquiry and for the safety of its country's airports, as well as for the proficient use of intelligence that might have prevented the disaster.
"We maintain that there has been no investigation compliant with the Article 2 rights of the families.
"We have waited patiently for almost 21 years to learn the full truth of what happened. Now we await Gordon Brown's response to our renewed calls for a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the bombing."
