Malta is preparing to launch an investigation into the evidence one of the key trial witnesses who helped convict Abdelbasset al-Megrahi over the Lockerbie bombing.

Government officials want to look at the claims of Tony Gauci, the shopkeeper who identified the Libyan as the man responsible for placing explosives on Pan Am Flight 103.

Mr Gauci ran a clothes shop, in Swieqi, Malta in 1988, and claimed Megrahi purchased an incriminating piece of clothing found among the debris of the aircraft.

But he has long been dogged by accusations that he concocted the story to receive a multi-million payout from the US.