Activist fears Megrahi special forces hit

Mr Megrahi, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, was released from a Scottish prison in August 2009 and returned to Libya on compassionate grounds, after serving nearly eight years of a 27-year sentence.

But there have long been concerns over the way the trial was conducted, leading many to believe he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Dr Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the 1988 atrocity, has long maintained that Megrahi is innocent of the bombing which killed 270 people when Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

The former GP said: "I am worried for him. I can just see the unit they sent to kill Osama bin Laden being sent to extract Mr Megrahi.

"Presumably, they wouldn't extract him but kill him on the spot."

Dr Swire also said he was stepping down from front-line campaigning because a group of British lawyers, including QCs, were keen to look at evidence from Mr Megrahi's trial.

"There's a whole cohort of senior lawyers who are keen to get involved," he added.

Dr Swire also said the emergence of the Justice For Megrahi campaign group was another reason for his decision.

"Both I and my family feel it's time to leave it to younger hands.

"Right from day one we felt that we wanted to try and force something good to come out of something so evil as this.

"In the early years that took the form of hoping to improve relations between Libya and Britain and that did seem to be working."