Cameron: 'Don't blame BP for Megrahi release'

David Cameron has insisted that BP should not be blamed for the "completely wrong" decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.

Speaking at a White House press conference alongside US President Barack Obama, the Prime Minister said the Scottish Government was responsible for freeing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

He also warned the US against excessive punishment of BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - insisting it was in no one's interests to undermine the firm's future.

Mr Cameron said he had seen no evidence that the Scottish Government had been "swayed" by lobbying from BP, but the company would have to explain any representations it had made.

He said he and President Obama had been in "violent agreement" that freeing the terminally-ill bomber on compassionate grounds last August had been wrong.

Mr Cameron said: "Releasing the Lockerbie bomber, a mass murderer, was completely wrong. He showed his victims no compassion. They were not allowed to die in their beds at home." He added: "That was not a decision taken by BP, it was a decision taken by the Scottish Government."