SNP MP ATTACKS 'UNPLEASANT' UK

John Mason also described the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi as a “bit player” in the atrocity, fuelling theories that the courts convicted the wrong man.

The Glasgow East MP wrote to Kenneth Faulds, a member of Scotland’s Youth Parliament, saying: “I am not a fan of [our judicial system]. It seems to me the courts may well have caved in to public opinion on the Lockerbie case and convicted someone who was only a bit player.

“They repeatedly let people off on a technicality who have clearly committed the crime. The courts always seem to look at the letter of the law and ignore the spirit of it.” Mr Faulds, 23, is campaigning for the introduction of fatal accident inquiries for Scots who die abroad, after his friend Colin Love drowned in Venezuela earlier this year.

But Mr Mason said: “My concern would be that the UK has an unpleasant colonial past and tends to look down on other countries.”

Labour MSP Margaret Curran yesterday described his comments as “bizarre”.