Bomber return: PM urged sensitivity

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The letter was sent on Thursday, ahead of the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from jail in Glasgow.

The Prime Minister made clear the decision to release the terminally-ill bomber on compassionate grounds was the Scottish Government's.

But he urged the Libyan leader to "act with sensitivity", said a Downing Street spokeswoman.

Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was met with a hero's welcome by people who met the flight at Tripoli.

He was earlier freed by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on compassionate grounds after serving seven years of his life sentence for 270 counts of murder.

The cancer-stricken 57-year-old had changed out of the white tracksuit he wore on his release from Glasgow's Greenock Prison into a smart dark suit when he exited the plane at Tripoli airport. Many of Megrahi's well-wishers were pictured waving the Scottish flag alongside the distinctive green Libyan flags.

Politicians also spoke out against the joyous greeting given to the convicted mass murderer, with Scottish parliamentarians particularly angry that the St Andrew's Cross was used to welcome Megrahi to Tripoli.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband refused to say whether he agreed with the Scottish Justice Secretary's decision but said he deplored the reception Megrahi received in Tripoli. He said: "Obviously the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing."

Mr MacAskill's decision was met with anger on both sides of the Atlantic. US president Barack Obama also urged the Libyans to make sure he remained under house arrest once he was home, adding that the Americans believed the Scottish Government had made a "mistake".