AS THE tenth anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster approaches, Scotland's top pathologist has spoken out for the first time about the horrors of the days which followed the tragedy.

 Professor Anthony Busuttil had to identify the scores of victims who died on 21 December, 1988, when Pan Am
 Flight 103 was blown apart above Lockerbie. Yesterday, the 52-year-old head of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University spoke about his role in detail. As he prepares to fly to London for a tenth anniversary memorial service at Westminster Abbey, he recalled how he had to identify all 259 passengers and 11 residents who died. Their bodies were scattered across fields, on top of houses, on a golf course and in gardens over the small town.

 Prof Busuttil, who also examined the victims of the Dunblane tragedy, said: "It was like a nightmare. Can you imagine seeing bodies lying on roofs of buildings or all over a golf course? "The scale of what we were facing was immense. At first light after the night of the disaster, I saw it all for myself. I saw the first bodies which had arrived at the mortuary.

 "But when you see it in the cold light of day, it was truly awful. Nothing can prepare you for something like that.  "I know the young soldiers were very badly affected and who wouldn't be? It was a terrible sight. I knew they weren't coping at all. It is my job to be able to deal with that, but the horror and scale of it shocked many, many people."

 Prof Busuttil was called up as the Lothian and Borders police surgeon - the force was offering technical support to Strathclyde Police in co-ordinating events. When he first arrived, a makeshift mortuary had already been set up on the first floor of Lockerbie's Town Hall. But the number of bodies was so great another was quickly set up at the ice rink. Although many were intact some were decapitated. Prof Busuttil said: "As I was running the mortuary, identification was paramount, whether that was dental records, eyes, jewellery or whatever.

 "We raised the investigation to a murder inquiry so that all the sites and bodies were photographed, logged, recorded and reports on everything carried out. It really was a very thorough process considering the number of deaths."

 Prof Busuttil, a father-of-three, spent that Christmas and New Year working 17-hour days as the full extent of the disaster unfolded. He said: "I'll never forget seeing some of the children in the mortuary. It was terrible, but I had to think on a technical level about what I required to carry out my job. There were eight pathologists - I was co-ordinating everything - and eight dentists."

 For the Maltese-born pathologist, with 30 years' experience, Lockerbie was an emotionally draining experience. He said: "We were working 7am to midnight for a fortnight. It was very demanding and unreal. Everybody in Lockerbie played their part in helping. If we wanted something done it was never a problem.  "The shock and stress that everyone suffered, especially the police, was incredible."

 The American leader of a Lockerbie relatives' group is planning a "walk of remembrance" in the town on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the disaster. Bert Ammerman, of Terrorism Watch Pan Am 103, said yesterday he intends to make the poignant pilgrimage on his own on Sunday, 20 December. He intends to visit the three Lockerbie memorials to the 270 who died in the bomb outrage and the spot where the body of his brother, Thomas, a passenger on the aircraft, was found.

 The people of Lockerbie are doing their utmost to ensure the tenth anniversary is marked in a restrained fashion.