Libya defector faces Lockerbie quiz

Prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing are expected to meet Libyan defector Musa Kusa later this week.

Police and prosecutors said steps were being taken to arrange the appointment with the former foreign minister "in the next few days".

Mr Kusa, who it is believed was an intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 atrocity, arrived in the UK last week after abandoning Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Scottish investigators are expected to question him over the bombing after discussions with Foreign Office officials on Monday.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that representatives of the Crown Office and Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary met with Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials to discuss the situation concerning Mr Musa Kusa and specifically to discuss access to Mr Musa Kusa. It was a very positive meeting and steps are being taken with a view to arranging a meeting with Mr Musa Kusa at the earliest opportunity in the next few days."

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Foreign Office officials would encourage Mr Kusa to cooperate with investigators.

He told the Commons on Monday: "We will encourage Musa Kusa to co-operate fully with all requests for interviews with law enforcement and investigation authorities in relation both to Lockerbie as well as other issues stemming from Libya's past sponsorship of terrorism and to seek legal representation where appropriate."

Mr Kusa was head of Gaddafi's feared intelligence agency from 1994 and was a senior intelligence agent when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie - killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was jailed for mass murder in 2001 but was returned to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds after doctors treating him for prostate cancer gave him an estimated three months to live.

As well as the Lockerbie bombing, Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has led calls for Mr Kusa to be quizzed in relation to the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot during a protest outside London's Libyan Embassy in 1984.