His family and his lawyer, Aamer Anwar, on Tuesday handed in files to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in Glasgow.

The SCCRC will now decide whether there are grounds to refer the case to the appeal court.

The move has the support of several UK family members of those killed on the flight, who have long called for a full public inquiry into the bombing.

Mr Anwar said the truth about what happened on December 21, 1988 "remains elusive".

"The reputation of Scottish law has suffered both at home and internationally because of widespread doubts about the conviction of Mr al-Megrahi.

"It is in the interests of justice and restoring confidence in our criminal justice system that these doubts can be addressed. However the only place to determine whether a miscarriage of justice did occur is in the appeal court, where the evidence can be subjected to rigorous scrutiny."