The UK’s ITN News reports:

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has admitted that the prospect of trade and oil deals with Libya played a part in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mr Straw said the issue of trade played “a very big part” in his decision to include Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement in 2007, adding “I’m unapologetic about that.”

His comments could reignite the row over Megrahi’s release, after Gordon Brown insisted just days ago there was no deal.

Megrahi was released in August from Greenock prison, where he was serving a life sentence, on compassionate grounds as he has terminal cancer.

He was convicted for the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 which killed 270 people.