"...we tend to draw a line after a verdict."

And thanks to that kind of attitude Sam Hallam served nearly eight years in prison for a murder with which he had no connection whatsoever. If just a few more people had shown Ian-Mather type indifference, the UK Court of Appeal need not have quashed Hallam's conviction last week. (Our lawyers are not exactly falling over themselves to right their wrongs.)

Ian's attitude sits comfortably with that of Lord Denning who some time after retiring as the UK's second most senior judge regretted that the Birmingham six had not been hanged, as that would have circumvented the campaign for their release. He had turned down their appeal on the basis that to have upheld it would have meant police had lied - a possibility, he said, which could not be contemplated. (Though conveniently Irish they were of course innocent.)

Anyone more curious than Ian could start HERE. As so often with these appalling cases, it doesn't take much probing to realise that Megrahi was as innocent as he continued to claim right up to his death.