THE gun had just fired from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle when Kenny MacAskill strode into the packed media briefing room at St Andrew's House to confirm the worst-kept secret in Scottish politics.

It was a starter's gun for an extraordinary few hours in the international spotlight for Scotland.

As the Justice Secretary began to outline his reasons for rejecting a request for prisoner transfer by the Libyan government but granting compassionate release to a terminally ill man, a co-ordinated announcement got under way.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi received a visit in his cell at Greenock Prison by deputy governor Martin Macdonald to tell him he would be leaving Scotland within hours to end his days in his homeland, and that e-mails were going out around the world to inform the American and Libyan authorities, and relatives of Lockerbie victims on both sides of the Atlantic.

Back in St Andrew's House this was a very different Kenny MacAskill from the swift-talking, exuberant, quick-to-joke politician we have come to know.

Knowing he would be judged in New York, Washington, Tripoli and the rest of the world, Mr MacAskill adopted a whole new persona - solid, unspectacular, even troubled by the weight of a decision that was, as he stressed, one for him and him alone.

But this was not the effort of a one-man band. His lengthy speech was carefully crafted and well-rehearsed. Although a team effort, it was claimed the unlikely (for Mr MacAskill) section invoking a "higher power" was his own idea.

With Scotland about to be put under intense scrutiny by Christian Americans and Muslims around the world, he said: "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive. Their pain runs deep and the wounds remain.

"However, Mr al Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die."

Mr MacAskill's second theme was the absolute nature of the responsibility he was bearing, as he stressed repeatedly the decision was one for him alone.

Speaking slowly, with the gait of a man carrying a physical burden, he said: "It therefore falls to me to decide ... there are deeply-held feelings and many will disagree whatever my decision. However, a decision has to be made."

His third strand was that his political opponents at Westminster and Holyrood would be held equally to account for this saga.

Least subtle was his attack on the "deal in the desert" when Tony Blair signed the prisoner transfer deal with Colonel Gaddafi two years ago.

He criticised UK counterpart Jack Straw for his "regrettable" failure to respond to transatlantic issues about the prisoner transfer and for any deal done before the trial in Holland. That was cited as his clincher for rejecting prisoner transfer.

More subtle was the way he merely reflected that the whole issue of compassionate release arose from 1993 legislation. He made no mention this was Tory Government legislation.

He then pointed out the current guidance on enforcing that legislation came from 2005. He did not say this was a time when a Labour-LibDems' coalition was in power at Holyrood.

Finally, there was the argument that it was intrinsically Scottish to demonstrate values of forgiveness and compassion. "We are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity," he insisted. "It is a defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people.

"The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live." Jeers before jail convoy's airport dash

A FREED Megrahi and his police guard convoy passed through the blue gates of Greenock jail to run the gauntlet of jeers from a hostile crowd gathered outside.

Shouts of "die you b*****d" and "he's laughing in there" came from locals as the white van carrying the cancer-striken 57-year-old Libyan sped out on to rain-lashed streets.

Police and TV news helicopters hovered overhead as journalists lined the streets to capture the event in the wake of Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision.

A slick police operation saw police outriders and a fleet of police cars enter the jail shortly before 2.30pm yesterday. But within minutes, the convoy was speeding towards Glasgow Airport.

On the route a protester's poster declared: "Send him home in a box."

Locals came to witness the release from Greenock, among them Conservative Justice spokesman Bill Aitken.

At the airport dozens of people jostled for a glimpse of the convoy. Some stood on their cars to take pictures over the security fence.

As the jet took off, some in the crowd began to shout obscenities.directed at the departing Megrahi. Little chance now of fresh evidence There were scenes of devastation in Lockerbie after the plane blew up over the town THE release of the Lockerbie convict almost certainly mneans the last chance has disappeared for any fresh public airing of the much-disputed events of 21 years ago.

The theories abound: the Libyans bombed Pan Am flight 103; or the attack was actually carried out by Iranians; or it was an accident that was embarrassing to the US.

But when Megrahi left Glasgow Airport the last realistic chance of a fresh inquiry process departed with it.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill repeatedly stood by the Scottish legal process yesterday, lavishing praise on police, fiscals and judges who convicted the Libyan at the special court in Holland.

He insisted he had no reason to doubt the conviction - even though grounds for appeal had been found and it was clear the Libyans abandoned proceedings purely as a mechanism to improve the chances of Megrahi's repatriation on compassionate grounds.

The UK Government has already ruled out a public inquiry, and the Scottish Justice Secretary made it clear that under the powers devolved to Holyrood no worthwhile scrutiny could be ordered here because there would be no powers to compel witnesses.

Mr MacAskill said repeatedly the Scottish Government would be "relaxed" about an inquiry taking place, but there is no real precedent for such a tribunal being set up under United Nations or European auspices.

"This is a global issue, and international in its nature," he said. "The questions to be asked and answered are beyond the jurisdiction of Scots law and the restricted remit of the Scottish Government.

"If a further inquiry were felt to be appropriate then it should be initiated by those with the required power and authority." Wrong decision ruined my life

IT was the personal plea of a dying man who felt he had surrendered to the "wrongness" of his conviction.

As the cavalcade of police and security vans moved Megrahi from HMP Greenock to Glasgow airport, he released a personal statement about the "shadow" of desolation beneath which he is returning to home.

"To be incarcerated in a far off land, completely alien to my way of life and culture has been not only a shock but also a most profound dislocation for me and for my whole family," he said.

"I had to endure a verdict being issued at the conclusion of that trial which is now characterised by my lawyers, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, as unreasonable. To me, and to other right thinking people back at home in Libya, and in the international community, it is nothing short of a disgrace.

"Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death. And I say in the clearest possible terms: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do.

"I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted."

He thanked prison and nursing staff and for those relatives of the victims "who can bear to hear me say this", he sent his most sincere sympathy. How events unfolded

1.00pm - Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill takes 25 minutes to announce his decision to release Megrahi.

2.25pm - Just over an hour later Megrahi leaves Greenock prison, his face covered with a white scarf and white Nike baseball cap.

2.55pm - A police convoy arrives with the released terrorist at Glasgow Airport where a Libyan jet is waiting to take him home.

3.10pm - The Lockerbie bomber slowly boards the plane with the aid of a walking stick and leaves Scottish soil.

6.30pm - Megrahi arrives in Tripoli airport to cheering crowds throwing confetti and waving Saltires.