It comes after relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing were told there will be no further investigation by the government.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met with representatives of the families on Tuesday and told them a fresh inquiry was unlikely to be of any benefit.

Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted of murder for smuggling a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988, with the loss of 270 lives.

We need to know why the government of the day made no effort to protect our loved ones. Jim Swire Families' spokesman

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the Lockerbie disaster, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme it was a very angry meeting.

He said: "I think it's fair to say that our group feel they've been double-crossed.

"Failure to take any special precautions to prevent these deaths and to say to us, as the foreign secretary did yesterday, that an inquiry would serve no useful purpose is a profound insult.

"We have to live with the consequences of this ghastly and preventable disaster for the rest of our lives.

"He doesn't have to live with it the rest of his life. How dare he say it would serve no useful purpose?

'No warning given'

"We need to know why the government of the day made no effort to protect our loved ones.

"Two months before Lockerbie the government had received a warning which told them that a group of Syrian terrorists were manufacturing bombs for use against aircraft in flight near Frankfurt.

"They also received two weeks before Lockerbie a warning that told them that Pan Am was to be attacked on a flight from Frankfurt to New York within two weeks time."

Dr Swire added: "At the time of Lockerbie Britain was in possession of very specific information about a risk and gave absolutely no warning whatsoever."

Megrahi is serving his sentence in Barlinnie

Megrahi was moved to Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison in March after he lost an appeal against his conviction. He is now serving a sentence of at least 20 years.

Linlithgow MP Tam Dalyell, who has been following the case for an inquiry, said he was very disappointed with the situation.

"I think Jim Swire and the other relatives have every right to be seething with anger," he said.

"Still we're no nearer the truth and still there's frankly what I believe to be an innocent man in Barlinnie this Christmas - Mr Megrahi.

"There were notices that went up in the embassy in Moscow advising diplomats not to travel on that particular airline.

"I think they are entitled to the truth - we have not had a public enquiry what we had at the beginning was a fatal accident enquiry."

Mr Dalyell added: "Where I agree with Jack Straw is that there should have been a public inquiry at the time and that was denied."