On Wednesday 21 December 1988 , Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie , killing two hundred and seventy people . In 1991 , two Libyan men were indicted for the bombing , but their trial did not begin until May 2000 . The trial itself was held in a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary , sitting as the Scottish Court in the Netherlands , at Camp Zeist , a former US Air Force base in Utrecht , Netherlands . Hardie took over as Lord Advocate shortly before arrangements for the trial were agreed , and it was intended he would lead the prosecution team , however he resigned as Lord Advocate in March 2000 , two months before the trial was scheduled to begin , and was forced to defend himself against accusations of having ' abandoned ' the victims ' families . He was succeeded as Lord Advocate by the Solicitor General , Colin Boyd
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Andrew Hardie, Baron Hardie