Within days of the bombing in 1988, it emerged that the US Embassy in Helsinki had been warned of an imminent bomb attack on a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the United States.
Dr Swire says his daughter Flora was able to book a last-minute seat on pre-Christmas flight to New York that was only two thirds full.
The 88-year-old’s position on Lockerbie, his face-to-face negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi and his eventual friendship with Megrahi have been supported over the years by some of the other relatives but have also earned him the enmity of other bereaved relatives, particularly in the United States.
Some of them have expressed anger over the forthcoming Sky drama.
Dr Swire said: “The more people look at what happened at Lockerbie the happier I’ll be.
“You can make your own decision about whether you believe the official version or the alternative that we’ve laboured so far to find.
“I hope this the Sky series will do that because I’m getting pretty long in the tooth and I can’t go on doing this forever.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said:
“The bombing of Pan Am flight 103 was truly abhorrent and the government’s deepest sympathies remain with the victim’s families and loved ones.
“We do not comment on the contents of archive files, but follow the process of opening files as set out in public record legislation”.
