The women are the only people still living in Lockerbie who had relatives killed when Pan Am flight 103 plunged to the ground after it was torn apart by a bomb on December 21, 1988. Eleven people in the town were killed.

Veronica's sister Dora, 55, and brother-in-law Maurice Henry, 62, and Molly's mother Mary Lancaster, 81, had been next-door neighbours in Sherwood Crescent.

They died as their homes were incinerated, leaving only a 30ft crater. The eight others who died lived in the same street.

Veronica, 53, a former care worker, said: "This has been a show trial and for me there will never be justice.

"These Libyans are scapegoats and the whole thing has been a waste of time.

"Do they have the right people? This is the question nagging me".

Veronica, who has two grandchildren, added: "They should have had it over and done with long before now.

"We were looking for justice at the time when we were raw and angry, but now I don't think the verdict will make any difference to me or the people of Lockerbie.

"Even a life for a life wouldn't matter to me.

"This all boils down to politics. I would much rather a new hospital for Dumfries had been built with the huge amount of money spent on the trial."

Veronica, whose husband William gave evidence at the Camp Zeist trial, was at her house in Lockerbie when the Pan Am's engine plunged into the park opposite.

She recalled: "I will never forget the eerie noise of the plane falling to the ground or the smell of aviation fuel.

"I knew within myself that Dora had died and I rushed round to her house, but couldn't get near it because of the wreckage and emergency services.

"I was very close to my sister and she loved life - I saw her every day and I miss her."

"When she died a bit of me was lost as well."

Molly Oliver, who is in her 60s, believes a Camp Zeist verdict will not bring peace to relatives of those who died.

"My mother got through two world wars only to be slaughtered by terrorists.

"But the trial has been a big waste of money. They will never know who was responsible.

"These men may have planted the bomb, but they are minnows in a big sea.

"It would almost have been better never to have a court case. It has been put on just for the Americans."

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 48, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, deny the terrorist plot and planting the bomb, which was hidden inside a suitcase.

The Scots judges hearing the 84-day trial retired to consider a verdict on Thursday and adjourned the case until January 30.

TAMZIN LEWIS, GIVE US JUSTICE. , Sunday Mirror, 01-21-2001, pp 9.