Dr Jim Swire, who has campaigned for justice since his daughter, Flora, was killed in the bombing, said he believed the delay in the trial could be beneficial if it meant more care would be taken over evidence.

He said: “For many years, we’ve been after only one thing, and that is the truth.

“If each delay allows the court to assemble more of the true evidence, I am all in favour of it.

“The judge seems to have stuck her oar in and insisted on further care being taken about the assembly of evidence, and if so, that is good news.”

A grandfather in his 70s, Al-Marimi has been accused of carrying out the attack along with two Libyans who faced a Scottish court in May 2000.

Three judges heard the case at Camp Zeist, a former US air force base in the Netherlands.

After eight months, they ruled the atrocity was an act of state sponsored terrorism carried out by members of the Libyan intelligence service.