He is a father who never stopped searching for justice. Midlands father Jim Swire fought relentlessly for answers when his daughter was killed in a deadly flight explosion.
In December 1988, 259 passengers and crew died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie 38 minutes after take-off. A further eleven residents lost their lives as the plane crashed over the town.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth airs today on Sky, January 2, where Oscar winner Colin Firth plays Swire. The TV drama covers Swire’s years-long search for justice for the death of his 23-year-old daughter Flora as his family life falls apart.
Read more:Special Report: Jim Swire speaks about the mysteries surrounding the Lockerbie disaster
Here is everything you need to know about the real-life Jim Swire:
Who is Jim Swire?
Swire, 88, is a GP from Bromsgrove, but he was actually born at Windsor Castle. His British Army colonel father, Roger, was based there with the new baby’s mother, Otta, daughter of renowned classical scholar Sir William Tarn.
Dr Jim Swire’s daughter Flora
He had distinct memories of waking up on freezing mornings on the Isle of Skye to pick early snowdrops with his sister, then drive them to Portree for the mainland ferry to Covent Gardens.
He attended prep school in Oxford, followed by Eton, at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read geology. He later secured a place at Ridley Hall Theological College to study for the Church of England but continued working as a BBC technologist.
In Cambridge, the then 25-year-old met trainee-teacher Jane, 22, from Studley, Warwickshire. The two married at Studley Parish Church near the bride’s home and family.
Jane suggested a more steady career for Jim, which steered him towards the Birmingham School of Medicine. He eventually graduated as a doctor. Realising he was too old for surgery, he switched to general practice despite everyone advising otherwise.
The GP preferred to get to know his patients properly. Swire and his wife settled first in Blackwell, then moved to Pike’s Pool Lane farmhouse in large grounds at Burcot, Bromsgrove.
The wrecked nose section of the PAN AM Boeing 747 jumbo jet at the site of the Lockerbie plane crash.
(Image: PA)
Moving with their three children, Flora, Catherine and William, they enjoyed a happy family life until that tragic night Flora flew to New York to spend Christmas with her fiancé.
What happened in Lockerbie?
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in a terrorist attack that killed all 243 passengers and 16 crew onboard. Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of 270 counts of murder by three Scottish judges and jailed for life.
He was released from Greenock Prison in 2009 and died in Libya in 2012, but Swire believes Megrahi suffered a miscarriage of justice.
Many believe the attack was revenge by Iran for the downing of an Iran Air passenger flight by a US missile cruiser earlier in 1988. A belief shared by Swire.
The former GP became a spokesperson for UK Families Flight 103, a support group and activist organisation of victims’ families. Swire lobbied for the British and American governments to launch official investigations into the event.
Colin Firth will play Jim Swire in Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
He campaigned for decades and even controversially took a fake bomb on a flight from Heathrow to New York City in 1990. It was the same route his daughter took and aimed to highlight how little airport security had improved.
He later penned his 2022 memoir Lockerbie: A Father’s Search for Justice, which the Sky show is based on. Swire hopes the new Sky drama will ignite debate around the tragedy and unearth some answers.
When does the show air?
The five-part series will air at 9pm on the Sky channel today, January 2.