Abdelbaset al-Megrahi 10 August 2009 that he had terminal prostate cancer. On his return to Libya, al-Megrahi was initially hospitalized then allowed to leave on 2 November 2009, taking up residence in a villa in Tripoli. He died on 20 May 2012, two years and 9 months after his release. Several legal experts as well as the UN observer at the Lockerbie trial have vehemently challenged the verdict that convicted Megrahi, while Ulrich Lumpert, the Mebo AG engineer who testified to the validity of a key piece of evidence, admitted in an affidavit to lying in court and stealing the object from
Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway had traditionally been significant trade movement along the Lockerbie - Lochmaben - Dumfries road. In 1847 the Caledonian Railway (CR) opened its main line through Lockerbie. In 1848 a line between Carlisle and Dumfries was opened, and was extended to complete a Carlisle - Dumfries - Kilmarnock - Glasgow route in 1849; the company building that route became the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) in 1850. The arrival of the railway brought cheap coal to the communities served, and helped farmers by cheaply bringing fertiliser in and farm produce away. Lochmaben felt itself at a disadvantage to its neighbours,